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PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

OP 

REV. J. J. SUMMERBELL, D. D. 




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PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

OF 

Rev. J. J. SUMMERBELL, D. D, 



COMPILED BY HIS SON 

REV. CARLYLE SUMMERBELL 



'He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, 

shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, 

bringing his sheaves with him." 



THE CHRISTIAN PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION 

DAYTON. OHIO 



-'S 



Copyright, 1916, by 

The Christian Publishing Association 

Dayton, Ohio 



The Christian Publishing Association, which issues 
this book, does not assume responsibility for the 
doctrinal utterances, being controlled by a brother- 
hood that allows individual interpretation of the 
Scriptures, making Christian character the only test 
of fellowship. With our people, freedom of utterance 
is equally a right with freedom of interpretation; 
the one implying the other. 



f/- 



DEU 27 1916 

©01.4 446948 



CONTENTS 




Preface _ . . - 


9 


The Summerbell Family 


17 


The Gospel Minister 


- 63 


The Pastor and Preacher 


- 77 


The Orator - _ - 


91 


The Theologian 


101 


The Author _ - - 


- Ill 


The Church Official - 


- 127 


The Editor 


- 141 


The CoiiLEGE Lecturer 


153 


The Man AND Leader - 


- 165 



PREFACE 



PREFACE 

THE public activities of the Rev. 
Dr. J. J. Summerbell, of which his 
friends write in this volume, lasted 
upwards of half a century. This is a 
considerable time to be before the public, 
and as his life was not without deep 
tragedies, there must have been some- 
thing more than common in his character 
that would stand the strain of endeavors 
such as initial clerical investigation for the 
United States census, which he undertook as 
Secretary of The American Christian Con- 
vention; the pastoral and revivalistic labors 
in which he was invariably successful; the 
editorial duties of The Herald of Gospel 
Liberty; the writing of numerous articles 
for the religious press, and the publication of 
a number of important works on theology 
and kindred subjects. 

During a lifetime of these various activi- 
ties, Dr. Summerbell was never without a 
strong belief in the Supreme Being, and in 
Jesus Christ as His only begotten Son; this 



10 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

theological attitude colored all his writings 
and teachings, and in any just estimate of his 
life must be given paramount consideration. 
It was the philosophy and theology of John : 
"These are written, that ye may believe that 
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God ; and that 
believing ye may have life in his name." 

To him the divine Sonship of Jesus was the 
gospel, the evangel, the angels' song coming 
from heaven to earth, the word latest and 
sweetest of God to man. Indeed his favorite 
hymn, which was sung by a brother minister 
at his funeral, typifies the great central 
theme of his preaching and the love of his 
heart : 

Majestic sweetness sits enthroned 

Upon the Saviour's brow, 
His head with radiant glories crowned. 

His lips with grace o'er flow. 

No mortal can with Him compare. 

Among the sons of men; 
Fairer is He than all the fair 

'That fill the heavenly train. 

Since from His bounty I receive 

Such proofs of love divine, 
Had I a thousand hearts to give 

Lord, they should all be Thine. 

But while his thoughts oft reached 

Above the smoke and stir of this dim spot 
Which men call earth. 



PREFACE 11 

there was an important characteristic of his 
life which had to do with little things and 
every-day affairs. This was a painstaking 
care for order, and neatness, and exactness, 
carried into all avenues. Even his recreation 
must follow a formulated plan, and his 
pleasures be regulated by what he considered 
practical. On a trip to Europe, which he 
was enabled to take toward the evening of 
his days, by the persuasion and help of his 
wife, Mrs. Isabella Summerbell, this rule of 
action was very apparent. Naturally on a 
journey like this, sightseeing was in order, 
and some of us in the party tried to see all 
we could. Not so my father, for after he had 
exerted himself for a certain time and to a 
certain point, back to the stopping place or 
hotel he would go and rest, no matter how 
interesting the proximate thing promised to 
be. As a result of this program, after two 
months of arduous travel, he was as well and 
strong and active as at the beginning, while 
some of the rest of us were exhausted and 
were compelled to take time to recuperate. 

But this orderly method did not mean that 
life was stereotyped, or that people were not 
interested in him or interesting to him. For 
on this same trip it was a great pleasure to 



12 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

me to see him so well received by the best 
people wherever he came in contact with 
them. At Liverpool and London, as well as 
in the kingdom of Hungary, where he made 
a beautiful and strong appeal for the suprem- 
acy of Jesus to the Liberals of that country, 
he was at once recognized and warmly 
fellowshiped by good men and women, — 
fellowshiped outside of the limits of sectari- 
anism and nationalism. 

Nor did this orderly method keep him 
from moving the emotions as well as the 
intellect of folk. I remember once being 
present at a great gathering held in the large 
auditorium of Tremont Temple, Boston. The 
noon hour had arrived, but the business of 
the gathering had encroached upon the 
period allotted to the fraternal delegates. 
Finally the items of business were disposed 
of, and among the prominent speakers who 
brought greetings was Dr. Summerbell, 
speaking for the ''Christians." After a 
pleasing introduction by Rev. Samuel A. 
Eliot, my father began his address. As soon 
as he faced the audience, signs of voluntary 
adjournment began to disappear, and the 
increasing rapt attention of hundreds be- 
came concentrated on the speaker. Humor of 



PREFACE 13 

a pleasing ironic kind, which made clean 
thrusts through the subject in hand and 
sometimes turned adroitly against the preju- 
dices of the "intellectuals" of Boston caused 
laughter and hand clapping, and in a few 
moments, this New England meeting, com- 
posed of individualists not noted for carrying 
their hearts on their sleeves, was carried 
away with enthusiasm, applauding and 
acclaiming. Dinner was forgotten for the 
time being, and a feast of striking and provo- 
cative affirmations was enjoyed emotionally 
as well as intellectually by this cultivated 
assemblage. 

But every "man goeth to his long home," 
and the physical house of J. J. Summerbell 
was gently laid to rest in the beautiful Spring 
Grove Cemetery, near Cincinnati, Ohio, 
near by the mortal remains of his father, who 
"preached the gospel fifty years among the 
Christians," and his mother, who was indeed, 
a great Mother in Israel. There they slum- 
ber sweetly beneath the willows. On the 
modest stone which overlooks his grave are 
the words of holy writ, "Know ye not that 
there is a prince and a great man fallen this 
day in Israel?" 



14 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

And yet not fallen save to rise again, not 
sleeping but to wake. For surely the heart's 
affection that bowed in glad humility before 
the feet of the majestic Nazarene, cannot be 
forgotten in the dust, but love, the mightiest 
force in the universe and stronger than death 
itself, will bring together those who are of 
one spirit and mind, that where He is whom 
they adore, his beloved may be also. Are 
they not together now? 

Jesus, the very thought of Thee 
With sweetness fills the breast; 

But sweeter far Thy face to see, 
And in Thy presence rest. 

Carlyle Summerbell. 



THE SUMMERBELL FAMILY 



THE SUMMERBELL FAMILY 

BY REV. MARTYN SUMMERBELL, D. D. 

THE family of the Summerbells, in the 
branch whose name is written in this 
manner, is principally distinguished 
for having a strong religious inclination, 
a tendency toward literary pursuits, for 
having a preponderance of girls in its homes, 
and for the number of leaders whom it has 
contributed to the gospel ministry. 

In the mother country the family is to be 
traced far back into early history. Its first 
member in England was a Norman baron 
who came over with William the Conqueror, 
Sir Gualter de Somerville, Lord of Wichnour, 
in the county of Stafford. * His descendants 
moved northward and people bearing his 
name are to be found in Northumberland at 
the extreme northeast of England, and in 
Roxburgshire and Ayrshire in Scotland. 
Harriman in his surnames of the United 
Kingdom mentions several variations of the 



* See Dormant and Extinct Baronage of England. Lond. 
1807, p. 406, 



18 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

name: as Somerville, Somervail, Somervell, 
Somerwill, and Sommerville. To these may 
be added the form ''Summerbell," which is 
the one regularly borne by the branch in 
America to which present attention is 
directed. 

NICHOLAS SUMMERBELL 

1760-1844 

The progenitor of the American Summer- 
bells was Nicholas Summerbell, who was 
born in Northumberland, England, Novem- 
ber 27, 1760. He married Jane Wilson, a 
lady of good family, who seem to have been 
averse to the match, as there was little inter- 
course between the families afterward. 
Four children came to their home: James, 
Nancy, Jane, and Betsy, all of whom were 
born in England. In 1799 Nicholas brought 
his family to America. They landed in New 
York and sailed up the Hudson in a sloop as 
far as Peekskill. They settled on a farm 
five and a half miles east of that village in 
a part of the town which received the name 
of Scrub Oaks. Modern usage has modified 
this title to "Shrub Oaks," which is the name 
by which it is now known. Nicholas was a 



THE FAMILY 19 

weaver in the old country and it is supposed 
that he followed the same occupation here 
along with the care of his farm. He was a 
stanch member of the Baptist Church and 
was known in the community as a man of 
earnest Christian conviction, of thrifty ways, 
and a determined spirit. He was living at 
Shrub Oaks with his wife in the summer of 
1844 when he was visited by his grandson, 
Dr. N. Summerbell, who took with him his 
son Joseph, who was then an infant of six 
months. The old man was infirm, as was to 
be expected at his advanced age of eighty- 
four, but he was pleased to see his only great- 
grandson that bore the name of Summerbell. 
There were others who were born later, but 
at the time there were in the country but 
five males owning the name : Nicholas Senior, 
Nicholas Junior, Benjamin Ferris, James, 
and the infant Joseph. It was in the autumn 
of the same year that the veteran of the 
family entered into rest, December 13, 1844. 

JAMES SUMMERBELL 

1787-1821 
James Summerbell, the only son of Nicho- 
las, who beside the boy had three daughters, 
was born in Northumberland, England, 



20 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

May 30, 1787, and was twelve years old when 
the family removed to this country. He was 
raised on his father's farm at Shrub Oaks, to 
the east of Peekskill. He was converted at 
an early age and united with the Baptist 
church. He loved books and spent his spare 
time in diligent study to improve his mind. 
Beside working on the farm he early learned 
the use of tools and took up the trade of a 
millwright, and was able to set up machinery 
and repair it. He married Mary Ferris, 
daughter of Joseph Ferris, who owned a 
farm about a mile east of Peekskill. The 
Ferris family was connected with the Protes- 
tant Episcopal Church, which was then called 
"The Church of England." As James had 
been brought up as a rigid Baptist, and 
Mary as an Episcopalian, they compromised 
their religious differences by both transfer- 
ring their membership to the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, a society of which was in 
existence at Shrub Oaks. 

With his devout religious temperament, 
James became very active in church work, 
and began going out to hold religious meet- 
ings. The Methodist Conference of New York 
recognized his worth by giving him license to 
preach, and later received him as a minister. 



THE FAMILY 21 

It is reported of him that he displayed great 
fervor and eloquence as a preacher. In a 
letter that he wrote a little while before his 
untimely death this extract occurs: 

The Lord blesses us with His presence and our 
hearts are united in the work. In a neighborhood 
where I have been preaching, about sixteen miles off 
from here, the Lord awakened four last Saturday 
evening, and one more on Sunday cried for mercy. 

Clearly enough James Summerbell was not 
only faithful in giving the gospel message, 
but was also very successful. 

While he was still in the vigor of manhood, 
and the full tide of usefulness, he was sud- 
denly taken away. He was engaged in repair- 
ing the high overshot wheel of the Sea- 
mon mill during the noon hour, when some 
person returning from dinner turned on the 
water, not knowing of his perilous situation. 
His cries were heard and the water was 
turned off, but not until he had received fatal 
injuries and he was taken home to die. 
Before the last he was able to gather his 
young family about him and to give them 
good counsel. His death occurred on Novem- 
ber 22, 1821, when he was in the thirty-fifth 
year of his age. 

He left five children : Ann Matilda, Joseph 
Ferris, Nicholas, Benjamin Ferris, and 



22 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

James. Joseph at the time was eight and a 
half years old, and James, the youngest, was 
a babe of seven months. The death of her 
husband was a sad blow to the young widow, 
but she took up her burden with unflinching 
courage. Later her heart was gladdened 
with the sight of all of them taking places 
of honor and responsibility in the com- 
munity. 

At the session of the Methodist Confer- 
ence of New York, which was held in the 
Christie Street Meeting-house in New York 
City, March 14, 1822, a minute was voted in 
response to 

''Question 5. Who have died this year?" 

This question was from the Methodist Dis- 
cipline and referred to the preachers. In reply 
to the question over a page in the printed 
Minutes of that year was given to James 
Summerbell, a portion of which follows : 

James Summerbell, A man truly devoted to God 
and His work; he spared no pains to win souls to 
Christ, always seeming to consider himself as 
accountable for his time and talents; no weather 
could prevent him from attending his appointments, 
and no privations could drive him from his duty. 
The glory of God and the prosperity of His cause, 
were always uppermost in his mind, and although 
he had to labor for his daily support, yet he could 
ride or walk miles almost every evening to hold 



THE FAMILY 23 

meetings and warn sinners to flee from the wrath 
to come. After he withdrew from the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, on the principle, as he always 
professed of cultivating and enjoying Christian 
liberty, viewing their church government as not 
Scriptural, as all power seemed to center in traveling 
preachers, to the exclusion of local preachers and 
members from all privilege of voting, even for 
representatives to help in forming the rules by which 
the church was governed; yet he always showed the 
genuine spirit of love, never returning railing for 
railing, but always felt disposed to pray for, and 
with, those who spoke evil of him. 

Besides the foregoing tribute to the earn- 
estness and Christian devotion of the de- 
ceased minister, the above extract is notice- 
able for the beautiful spirit shown by the 
Methodist ministry of the New York Con- 
ference in that year of 1822. For they pub- 
licly recognized the good faith and ardent 
piety of a brother who differed with them on 
important points. In so doing they appear 
to have been all of a half century or more 
in advance of the practice of their time, 
which was too often given to a harsh intoler- 
ance of religious differences. 

On the death of the husband and father 
the family was broken up for a time. The 
mother, Mary Summerbell, kept with her the 
daughter, who was the eldest of her flock, 
and James the infant, who was the youngest. 



24 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

Nicholas Summerbell, the grandfather, who 
was living on his Shrub Oaks farm, took the 
young Nicholas, who was six years old. 
Joseph and Benjamin went to live with their 
maternal grandfather, Joseph Ferris, on his 
farm just out of Peekskill. A part of this 
farm later passed into the possession of 
Henry Ward Beecher, who repaired the 
homestead and made it his summer resi- 
dence, under the romantic name of Boscabel. 

When the young people were old enough 
to help in their own support, Mary Summer- 
bell took them with her to New York City, 
where she opened a boarding-house. The 
eldest child, Ann Matilda, assisted the 
mother, and the sons took up various occupa- 
tions as opportunity offered. 

In her new home the mother prospered 
and her house became a center for ministers 
who were traveling through the city, and 
such were always welcome at her table. She 
was a true mother in Israel and in her 
moments of leisure was to be seen reading 
her great Bible, which was endeared to her by 
its having been the property of her deceased 
husband, to whose memory she was true to 
the very last. She retained her faculties in 
a remarkable degree and insisted on caring 



THE FAMILY 25 

for her own room up to the last week before 
she passed away, on May 6th, 1875, within 
four days of being eighty-five years old. 

ANN MATILDA SUMMERBELL 
HITCHCOCK 

Ann Matilda Summerbell, eldest child of 
James and Mary Summerbell, v/as born at 
Shrub Oaks, N. Y. She lived with her 
mother after her father's death, and removed 
with her when she went to New York City. 
She was the first of the family to attend the 
Christian Church and to unite with it. She 
married Mr. Hitchcock, and they had one 
daughter, Mary Elizabeth. After the death 
of her husband Mrs. Hitchcock took charge 
of the boarding-house at 120 Orchard Street, 
which her mother had established. 

Mrs. Hitchcock's daughter Mary studied 
music, in which art she became very pro- 
ficient. She taught music, both instrumental 
and vocal, and was herself an accomplished 
singer. She married Benjamin F. Shaffer, 
a manufacturer of men's and boys' clothing. 
The husband and wife were leading mem- 
bers in the Suffolk Street Christian church 
of New York and later in the Church of the 
Evangel in Brooklyn. Mrs. Shaffer was con- 



26 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

ductor of the choir of the latter church for a 
number of years, and her husband was dea- 
con and president of the trustees. 

JOSEPH FERRIS SUMMERBELL 

1813-1841 

Joseph Ferris Summerbell, the second 
child of James and Mary Summerbell, and 
their eldest son, was born at Shrub Oaks, 
New York, March 9, 1813. He attended the 
academy at Peekskill, worked in a store, and 
became a merchant. He lost his life early 
and by accident. He had been in New York 
to purchase goods and was on his way home 
on horseback. It was a time of flood along 
the river and all the streams vf ere over their 
banks. When he came to the Croton River 
the bridges were gone. In his eager desire 
to get to his home he tried to cross by swim- 
ming his horse, but the current swept him 
out into the Hudson River. He left a widow 
and three children, Kate, Eliza, and Matilda. 
Kate married a Mr. Bird. Eliza was married 
to Horace F. Hutchinson, a banker of New 
York, and Matilda was united to Chas. DeF. 
Burns, also of New York. 



THE FAMILY 27 

NICHOLAS SUMMERBELL 

1816-1889 

Rev. Nicholas Summerbell, the second 
son of James and Mary Summerbell, was 
born at Shrub Oaks, N. Y., March 8, 1816. 
He was brought up by his grandfather, Nich- 
olas Summerbell, and studied in the district 
school. When his mother removed to New 
York he went also. He obtained work at 
first as errand boy in a store, but later 
learned the tailor's trade and set up a shop 
of his own on Grand Street. He was known 
as a capable cutter and prospered in his 
business. 

Before he was so far along, however, he 
had been attending Sunday-school and 
church at the Methodist meeting-house which 
was his mother's church home. But one Sun- 
day evening while on the way to service he 
was attracted by the crowd that was throng- 
ing into the Christian church, then at the 
corner of Broome and Norfolk streets. Isaac 
N. Walter was the minister, a man who had 
lately been called to the church from Ohio, 
and who was distinguished for his polished 
manners and his dignified and yet fervid 
oratory. Nicholas was charmed with the 



28 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

preacher, but was even more enamored by 
the vision which the minister set forth of a 
church which was as broad as the New Tes- 
tament, and which extended its fellowship to 
any true Christian, without respect to his 
dogmatic opinions, provided his life was one 
of vital Christian piety. He brought his two 
brothers to hear the preacher and they were 
as well pleased as himself. They joined the 
church together and became very active in 
its work. 

Nicholas was particularly prominent 
through his remarkable gift for exhortation, 
and he was soon in constant demand to 
assist in special revival meetings in churches 
in the city and in others that were not too 
remote. He preached his first sermon in the 
Allen Street Christian Church in 1838, when 
he was twenty-two years old. The next year 
he went on an extensive evangelizing tour in 
southern New England and was ordained to 
the ministry in the old Stone church at 
Adamsville, R. I. 

For the next three years he was busied in 
revival work, preaching in the churches of 
New Jersey, in New York up and down the 
Hudson River, and in Massachusetts and 
Rhode Island. 



THE FAMILY 29 

While he was thus engaged in 1842 in 
Warren County, N. J., he was induced to 
accept the care of several churches that cen- 
tered about Johnsonsburg. They were John- 
sonsburg, Hope, Vienna, and Spring Valley. 
For preaching to these his stipend for the 
year was $250.00. It was at Hope that he 
met Euphemia J. Sutton, whom he married 
February 9, 1843. 

In 1843 he accepted the charge of the 
Christian church at Milford, N. J., which he 
held for the next seven years. During this 
pastorate he applied himself to the severest 
courses of study, taking up Latin, Greek, and 
Hebrew, and the History of the Church, in 
which he became specially proficient. He 
also acquired the habit of constant writing, 
in the form of notes on the subjects he was 
pursuing, or notes and skeletons of sermons, 
poetical effusions, and other literary mate- 
rial. He was also in constant demand, as 
throughout his entire ministry, for sermons, 
or addresses on special occasions, and to hold 
revival services, in which duty he was uni- 
formly successful. 

It was during his Milford pastorate, while 
holding meetings in Warren County, that he 
felt the need of assistance, and so he sum- 



30 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

moned his brothers Benjamin and Joseph 
from New York City. Both had been doing 
what we call "lay work" in and about New 
York, and at the word Benjamin laid down 
the yardstick, and Joseph dropped the plane, 
to follow what they interpreted as the Mas- 
ter's call. It was but a short time when both 
were ordained to the ministry, to which they, 
as well as Nicholas, were henceforth devoted. 

In 1850 Nicholas closed his pastorate in 
Milford and removed to Cincinnati, Ohio, 
where he spent the next five years. In Cincin- 
nati he at once took a leading position among 
the clergy. He erected a fine new church. 
Also he engaged in several set debates 
with ministers of other denominations 
on disputed theological questions. In these 
debates his wide learning, his ready wit, his 
genial Christian spirit, and his frequent out- 
bursts of impassioned eloquence enabled him 
to carry off the palm of triumph. Some of 
these debates were published in book form 
and assisted in extending his personal influ- 
ence, as well as the prestige of his denomina- 
tion. 

In 1855 he went to Yellow Springs as pas- 
tor of the Christian church of that village. 
Antioch College had been established in that 



THE FAMILY 31 

town and he was a member of the Board of 
Trustees. His church was practically the 
college church, and he was able to exert a 
profitable influence over the students. He 
remained at Yellow Springs for the year. 

In 1856 he was urged by the Iowa brethren 
to come and help them build up the work in 
that field. Acceding to the demand he drove 
with horse and carriage, taking his wife and 
his young son, Joseph, and traversed the 
States of Indiana and Illinois till he crossed 
the Mississippi River and came to Des 
Moines, Iowa, where he made his home for 
the next three years. In that new country 
he undertook extended missionary journeys 
far and wide, enduring every manner of 
hardship, and yet building and encouraging 
the churches. Much of the work was at his 
own charges, and his main reward was 
received in the love of the people, and the 
assurance that he was doing the work of his 
Master. 

In 1860 he was called to assume the presi- 
dency of the college which the Christians 
were building at Merom, on the western bor- 
der of Indiana. As indicative of the catho- 
licity of their profession the institution was 
named Union Christian College. He formed 



32 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

a faculty and enlisted students and estab- 
lished a successful college during the period 
when the country was distracted with Civil 
War. During this time many other collegi- 
ate institutions were with difficulty able to 
hold their own, but U. C. College was grow^ 
ing in strength and influence till he felt that 
it stood on a firm foundation. After five 
years' service he laid down the work with the 
college free from debt, and a record of never 
having expelled a student. 

During a part of the time that he was 
president he was in active army service at 
the front, as chaplain of the One Hundred 
and Fifteenth Indiana Volunteers. The Mil- 
itary History of Ohio, published in 1866, 
gives the following passage respecting his 
military record: 

Summerbell, Eev. Nicholas, D. D., was President 
of Union Christian College at outbreak of war; 
received pass in General Grant's own hand to visit 
army in Missouri prior to Belmont battle; preached 
to General Logan's regiment while it was at Cairo, 
Illinois. Commission issued by Governor O. P. 
Morton, of Indiana, bearing date of August 26, 1863. 
Chaplain 115th Indiana Volunteer Infantry. Was 
able, faithful, and successful in his work; preaching, 
praying with the wounded, ministering to the sick, 
and comforting the dying; not only laboring with 
his regiment, but in all parts of the army to which 
he had access. Labors principally under General 
Burnside in Tennessee. Organized a church on Bible 



THE FAMILY 38 

Union principles. In 1864, in command of men on 
detached duty till M. 0. May 17, 1864. At close of 
war was presented by his men with Bible. 

He retired from the college in the summer 
of 1865 to take up labor once more in the 
Christian church in Cincinnati. 

Subsequently he held other pastorates as 
follows : 

Conneaut, Ohio, 1874-1876. 
Greenville, Ohio, 1876-1878. 
Enon, Ohio, 1878-1880. 

New Bedford, Mass., 1880-1883, Middle Street 
church. 

Churches near Yellow Springs, 0., 1883-1886. 
Springfield, O., 1886-1888. 

The year of 1877, while in charge at 
Greenville, he took in charge the interests of 
the Publishing House of the Christians, in 
Dayton, which was much involved. He 
assumed the duty of editor and publisher and 
in two years, while he was caring for the 
churches at Greenville and Enon, he 
increased the circulation of The Herald of 
Gospel Liberty and relieved The Publishing 
House of its worst financial distress. 

In April of 1888 the Mission Board of the 
Christians delegated him to visit the 
churches in Virginia and North Carolina, 
and he spent a couple of months in preaching 
and lecturing among them. On his return to 



34 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

the North he was appointed to attend the 
World's Missionary Conference, held in Lon- 
don, in June of 1888, which duty he fulfilled 
with credit to himself and to the denomina- 
tion which he represented. At the close of 
the conference he made an extended tour of 
Great Britain, France, Switzerland, Holland, 
Belgium, and Germany. 

On his return from abroad he resumed 
pastoral work at Dublin, Ohio, and also 
lectured frequently as invited here and there 
on his foreign travels. Near the close of 
1888 he was attacked by a heavy cold, which 
developed into congestion of the lungs, which 
caused his decease on January 4, 1889. 

Dr. Nicholas Summerbell was a prince 
among preachers. He was of heavy build 
and commanding presence, and in any com- 
pany was recognized as a man of distinction. 
While abroad he was frequently mistaken for 
a prelate of some Episcopal communion, and 
in Paris and other cities pious Catholics 
often stood and crossed themselves as he 
passed. The practice amused him, but he gave 
it no encouragement. As a preacher he 
was winsome and yet forceful. He was a 
voluminous writer, and his articles which 
were continually pouring from the press 



THE FAMILY 35 

were apt in purpose and felicitous in style. 
For fifty years he was a leader among his 
own people, and enjoyed the confidence and 
affection of many in other denominations, 
who recognized the catholicity of his spirit. 
Even when he found it his duty to controvert 
the views of others, he was invariably fair in 
his representation of their positions, and 
courteous, though an adversary might forget 
to be so. His son Joseph, who wrote his 
biography, summed up his characteristics in 
the word, "He was the best man we ever 
met; most emphatically a child of God." He 
had three children: Rev. Dr. Joseph James 
Summerbell, who became a distinguished 
minister among the Christians; Charles 
Henry, who died at Cincinnati, at the age of 
eleven, and Mary Matilda, who married 
Harpin Heath, of Covington, Indiana. Mary 
Matilda was a teacher of the piano and was 
recognized as a vocalist of exceptional gifts 
while living in Cincinnati. She died Novem- 
ber 1, 1877. Mr. and Mrs. Heath had a 
daughter, Mary Edna Summerbell Heath, 
who married Geo. Byrod Graham, of Cov- 
ington, Indiana, March 4, 1914. They have 
a daughter, Lura Besse Graham, born Jan- 
uary 23, 1915. 



36 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

BENJAMIN SUMMERBELL 
1819-1895 

Rev. Benjamin Ferris Summerbell, 
brother of Nicholas and third son of James 
and Mary Summerbell, was born at Shrub 
Oaks, N. Y., September 19, 1819. He was 
two years old when his father died, and was 
taken in charge by his maternal grandfather, 
Joseph Ferris, of Peekskill, from whom he 
had been named. He remained on the Ferris 
farm till he was able to provide for himself. 

When he was about sixteen his mother 
removed to New York City, and he went with 
the family and obtained employment in a 
dry-goods store of Grand Street. He was 
about nineteen when on the invitation of his 
brother Nicholas he attended the services of 
the Christian church and was there con- 
verted under the ministry of "Eld." I. N. 
Walter. He united with the Christian 
church, and lived the remainder of his life 
with it and died in its communion. 

The young men of "Eld." Walter's church 
were very active in their Christian profes- 
sion, and the Summerbell brothers, Nicholas, 
Benjamin, and James, not only spoke freely 
in their own social meetings, but also went 
about the city to hold gospel meetings. 



THE FAMILY 37 

In his business as a dry-goods salesman 
Benjamin Summerbell was expert and popu- 
lar. His manners were polished and gracious, 
and he sought to please his customers, no 
matter how exacting their requirements. As 
a result he held his trade and was constantly 
adding to the number of his friends. 

The young men with whom he generally 
associated were inclined to serious pursuits, 
and while others were engaged in frivolous 
diversions, they were busy with books or 
with improving conversation. Several of 
them started a Literary Society in which 
they read essays which they had carefully 
prepared, and engaged in debates on sub- 
jects of current interest. All these literary 
efforts were unsparingly criticised by the 
entire company of young men, and as a 
result they became ready speakers, capable 
debaters, and intelligent writers. No doubt 
the clear and transparent English style of 
which Benjamin Summerbell was a master 
was in large measure due to the severe train- 
ing which these young men practiced to- 
gether. 

In 1846 Nicholas Summerbell was preach- 
ing at Milford, N. J., and in the winter he 
went to hold revival meetings at Hope, N. J., 



38 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES . 

and the churches which were allied with it. 
As the work developed he felt the need of 
more assistance and so summoned his broth- 
ers Benjamin and James, and both willingly 
came and gave themselves to evangelistic 
work. Many people were converted under 
their efforts. During this revival the con- 
viction was borne in upon Benjamin's mind 
that the Lord was calling him to preach the 
gospel. 

It was during this meeting that he became 
acquainted with Elizabeth, a daughter of 
John Martin, of Marksboro, N. J., whom he 
presently married. It is to be remembered 
that the three Summerbell brothers, Nicho- 
las, Benjamin, and James, met the young 
ladies to whom they became attached during 
these meetings, and all of them came from 
Warren County in New Jersey. 

Benjamin was ordained to the ministry at 
the Christian church in Plymouth, Pa., in 
1847. 

This year he was invited to take the pas- 
torate of the Christian church at Naples, N. 
Y., and with his bride he drove with horse 
and buggy from New Jersey across Pennsyl- 
vania to central New York. He held the 
pastorate at Naples for two years, when he 



i 



THE FAMILY 39 

took the Second Christian church at Greece 
in Monroe County, N. Y. Here he ministered 
faithfully for a year. His other pastorates 
successively were South Berlin, N. Y. ; Pot- 
tersville, Mass.; Swansea, Mass.; Lawrence, 
Mass.; West Randolph, Vt. ; Providence, R. 
I.; Carlisle, Mass.; Marshall, Mich.; Burnt 
Hills, N. Y.; Medway, N, Y., and Madison- 
ville, Pa. In the most of these charges 
he served for three years. That he 
held so many pastorates was largely due to 
his great zeal and success as a minister, and 
the strength of his missionary spirit. He 
was eager for conversions, and was restless 
in any field that did not involve strenuous 
labor. If a committee came to him from a 
church that was run down or in difficulties, 
his sympathies were roused at once. If he 
felt that the church he was laboring with 
was able to go its own way, his impulse was 
to heed the new summons and build up the 
weak interest. Time and again a church that 
was about to close its doors would obtain his 
services, and immediately begin to take new 
lease of life. 

Benjamin Summerbell was also a natural 
evangelist, and every winter it was his cus- 
tom to spend from four to six weeks in evan- 



40 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

gelistic services. This was true between the 
years of 1847 up to 1885. In one field where 
there was no church of his own denomina- 
tion, and where the other religious service 
was practically dead, he held a meeting for 
a few weeks one winter and over eighty per- 
sons confessed their Savior. The most of 
these were heads of families and persons of 
means. He organized a church among them 
and they went forward and built a fine place 
of worship which he was called upon to dedi- 
cate the next year. 

In every community where he labored he 
threw himself heartily into fellowship with 
his brother ministers, and worked with them 
in building up the public welfare and the 
influence of the church. 

Beside his pastoral and evangelistic labors 
he was in wide demand to deliver ordina- 
tion and dedication sermons, and his efforts 
on such occasions were of a superior order. 
His contributions to the press were always 
welcome, such was their pertinence and their 
graces of style. 

He was particularly a friend of young 
ministers, whom he helped by his counsel, 
and sometimes by actual instruction. Some 
such he would receive into his own home for 



THE FAMILY 41 

months at a time, and take them with him 
into the pulpit and give them training in 
pulpit ministration under his own eye. 

During his later pastorates his health gave 
way, and having closed his work at Madison- 
ville, Pa., he made his home at Moscow, near 
by on the railroad, up to the time of his de- 
cease, November 12, 1895. 

Benjamin and Elizabeth Summerbell had 
three children, Martyn, who became a minis- 
ter among the Christians; Mary, who was 
married to W. A. Hawkins, of Brooklyn, N. 
Y., and who deceased in 1877, and Lyda 
Frances, who married Selden S. Yeager, and 
lives at Scranton, Pa. 

JAMES SUMMERBELL 

1821-1893 

Rev. James Summerbell, the youngest 
child of James and Mary Summerbell, and 
brother of Nicholas and Benjamin F. Sum- 
merbell, was born at Shrub Oaks, N. Y., 
April 18, 1821. His father was killed by 
accident when he was six months old. He 
was brought up by his mother, and obtained 
his early education at Peekskill Academy. 
While he was still a lad his mother disposed 



42 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

of the farm and removed to the City of New 
York. 

He was converted at about seventeen under 
the preaching of Isaac N. Walter of the 
Christian church, and with his Brother Ben- 
jamin and five other young men was baptized 
about sunrise through the ice in the East 
River one Sunday morning. 

He supported himself by working at the 
trade of a carpenter. When he was twenty- 
four years old his brother Nicholas was pas- 
tor of the Christian church at Milford, N. J. 
While on a visit to this brother he met Rachel 
Lawshe at her father's home at Quakertown, 
N. J. He was married to this lady in the 
following year. Their first home was in 
Elizabeth, N. J. 

James Summerbell had always been active 
in Christian work from the time of his con- 
version, and frequently went out to assist in 
evangelistic meetings. He was engaged in 
such a meeting in Plainfield, N. J., and here 
came in contact with the Seventh Day Bap- 
tist people. He and his wife studied their 
views and becoming convinced that they were 
in accord with the Scriptures, entered into 
their fellowship. 



THE FAMILY 43 

Later at a meeting which he was holding 
at Marksboro, N. J., he decided that he must 
take up the full duty of the ministry. His 
ordination occurred at Hopkinton, R. L, in 
1849. 

His first settled pastorate was at Peters- 
burgh, N. Y., and there he administered the 
rite of baptism for the first time on January 
27, 1850. His next charge was at Adams 
Center, N. Y., where he passed twelve happy 
years. During this pastorate on one occasion 
he baptized 102 converts. Later he served 
the church at Leonards ville, N. Y., for three 
years, and the church at Berlin, N. Y., for 
eight years. 

After closing with the church at Berlin he 
was sent by his Mission Board into the moun- 
tain regions of northern Pennsylvania on a 
missionary tour. He was thus engaged some 
six months, during which he drove from one 
meeting to another over wilderness roads, 
through cold and storm, but with a heart 
burning with zeal for the Lord. 

It was the rule of his life to preach the 
gospel to all, whether of his own denomina- 
tion or of others. By his warm-hearted 
geniality he won lasting friends wherever he 
went. He never spared himself in his labors, 



44 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

and when he laid down his armor, it was 
because he could do no more. His last pas- 
torate was at Alfred, N. Y., where he died, 
February 21, 1893. 

James and Rachel Summerbell had three 
children : Mrs. Sarah Wardner, of Plainfield, 
N. J., who, at over seventy-one is one of the 
most capable teachers in the Plainfield pub- 
lic schools ; Mrs. Mary F. Whitf ord, of Nile, 
N. Y., and Frank Nicholas Summerbell, of 
Milton, Wisconsin. Frank was a farmer by 
occupation, but is now retired. In 1915 the 
widow, Rachel Summerbell, was living with 
her daughter Mary at the age of ninety, and 
still in possession of all her faculties. She 
died December 30, 1915. 

JOSEPH JAMES SUMMERBELL 

1844-1913 

Rev. Joseph J. Summerbell (whose usual 
signature was J. J. Summerbell) was the 
eldest son of Nicholas and Euphemia J. Sum- 
merbell, and was born at Milford, N. J., on 
January 23, 1844. His father at the time 
was pastor of the Christian church at Mil- 
ford, His mother was a woman of rare 
talents and a wonderful helpmeet to her hus- 



THE FAMILY 45 

band in his church work. She had a great 
gift in public prayer and in reaching the 
hearts of converts. The spiritual dynamic 
of the Summerbell household was felt from 
the instant of crossing the threshold. The 
lad absorbed piety from both father and 
mother, and from his father he gained the 
impulse of study, for Nicholas Summerbell 
was a student to his latest breath. Before 
he was four years old Joseph Summerbell 
knew the Greek alphabet better than other 
boys of like age knew how to play marbles. 
It was a common thing for him to hold relig- 
ious services as a child, and by the age of 
eight he could discourse connectedly and 
effectively. The divine gift was in him. 

His education was pursued in the public 
schools where his father was pastor for the 
time, at Milf ord, N. J. ; Cincinnati, Ohio ; 
Yellow Springs, Ohio, and in Des Moines, 
Iowa. But he also studied at hom^e with 
father and mother, and at sixteen he was 
better prepared for college than many who 
entered college much older than he. 

When his father took charge of Union 
Christian College in Indiana, in 1860, Joseph 
was the first student that was enrolled in the 
Freshman Class. For the four years of his 



46 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

college life he was the ablest student in the 
institution. At his graduation in 1864 he 
had mastered the studies of the college 
course, but he was also proficient in theology 
and in vocal and instrumental music. 

He was elected to the professorship of pure 
mathematics in the college and served for 
the greater part of the college year. He was 
very capable as a teacher and was able to 
arouse enthusiasm among his pupils in math- 
ematics, which all educators recognize as a 
difficult task. 

In the spring of 1865 he was called to 
preach at Blackberry, Illinois, and accepted 
the work. His ordination occurred in his 
father's church, the Bible Chapel at Cincin- 
nati, December 31, 1865. Dr. Austin Craig, 
who was then acting President of Antioch 
College, preached the sermon. 

As pastor Dr. J. J. Summerbell served sev- 
eral pastorates: Blackberry, 111.; Jackson- 
ville, 111.; Des Moines, Iowa; Springboro, 
Pa. ; Milford, N. J., with Finesville as an out- 
lying station, and Lewisburg, Pa. He was 
in charge at Milford, N. J., his birthplace, 
for twelve years. As a preacher he was 
earnest, evangelical, and devoted. His ser- 
mons were models of method, terse, beauti- 



THE FAMILY 47 

ful, and often eloquent. But he never was 
guilty of sacrificing truth to the artificial 
flowers of a sham rhetoric. All his pastor- 
ates thrived under his care. He improved 
their business methods, but better still, he 
improved their spiritual power. Sinners 
heard him and were converted, and Chris- 
tians who listened were incited to more de- 
vout and active service. 

But he was too great a man to be confined 
to any narrow circle. From the outset of his 
ministry he was active in all the denomina- 
tional work of his people. He was in con- 
stant demand to preach at ordinations and at 
dedications of churches. He served his own 
conference in several offices, and was called 
to sister conferences to help in counsel or to 
deliver special addresses. For almost fifty 
years he was a prominent figure in the 
national Conventions of his people. In 1868 
he was the Denominational Publishing 
Agent. In 1870 he was elected Secretary of 
The American Christian Convention and 
served in this capacity for almost twenty- 
four years. In this time he systematized the 
denominational records and laid the founda- 
tion for more accurate reports from the 
churches and the conferences. A special 



48 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

duty which he accepted was the clearing 
away of misapprehensions respecting the 
standing and constituency of the Christians 
in the United States. 

In 1895 he took editorial charge of The 
Herald of Gospel Liberty, the denominational 
organ, and so came into direct touch with the 
ministers and the churches. As editor he 
wrote plain and readable articles, and was a 
leader of thought among his people. Under 
his direction The Herald became well known 
and respected in the religious press, and his 
articles were often referred to, and even 
reprinted by brother editors in papers of the 
great denominations. 

He was constantly being given places of 
honor and trust. He was a member of the 
Mission Board for years, and a trustee of 
some of the colleges, and of the theological 
seminary of the Christians. He was one of 
the delegates to the Federal Council of the 
Churches of Christ in America to the day 
of his death. He was appointed by the 
Executive Committee of the denomination as 
delegate to the World's Congress of Free 
Christianity, held in Berlin, Germany, in 
1910. While on the way to the Congress he 
preached in Liverpool in the Ancient Chapel 



THE FAMILY 49 

of Toxeth, and in Mr. Tarrant's pulpit in 
London. He was on the program to speak at 
Kalozsvar, Hungary, at the four-hundredth 
anniversary, to commemorate the religious 
services of Francis David, the martyr for 
religious freedom. His address on this occa- 
sion was received with marks of the highest 
appreciation. 

As an author, aside from his numberless 
contributions to the religious press, he pub- 
lished several pamphlets, one on "Denomina- 
tional Faithfulness;" one on "Destructive 
Criticism Suicidal;" one on "Fellowship in 
Journalism," and one on the "Christians and 
the Disciples." He also published several 
books which have enjoyed wide circulation. 
They are, "Life and Writings of N. Summer- 
bell," 1900; "Scripture Doctrine," 1904; 
"Outline of Six Christian Centuries," 1910, 
and "Mountains of the Bible." His latest 
book, "Campbellism Is Rebellion," he had 
just completed before his decease, and it was 
published by his family. He died suddenly 
of heart failure at his home in Dayton, Ohio, 
on Friday, February 28, 1913. 

His widow, Mrs. Isabella Summerbell, and 
his son. Rev. Carlyle Summerbell, D. D. of 
Wolfeboro, N. H., mourn his loss. 



50 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

MARTYN SUMMERBELL 

1847— 

Rev. Martyn Summerbell, the son of 
Benjamin F. and Elizabeth Summerbell, was 
born at Naples, N. Y., December 20, 1847. 
His preliminary education was mainly ob- 
tained in the public schools of New York 
City, where he was taken to live with his 
aunt, Mrs. A. M. Hitchcock, when he was 
four and a half years old. In the year begin- 
ning with September, 1864, he attended 
Union Christian College, in Indiana, of which 
his uncle. Dr. N. Summerbell, was president. 
He was also a student in theology under that 
incomparable teacher and theologian. Dur- 
ing this year while taking the literary studies 
of his course he taught a class of thirty-five 
in a course of Conversational German, a 
somewhat unusual line in the colleges at that 
date. 

In the winter of 1865 he returned to the 
East and taught a public school at Carlisle, 
Mass., near Boston. 

He was graduated from the College of the 
City of New York in the Class of 1871, and 
for the next eight years was Vice-Principal 



THE FAMILY 51 

of the Friends' School at Sixteenth Street 
and Rutherford Place, New York City. 

Under the direction of Dr. N. Summerbell 
he began to preach in the summer of 1865 in 
several of the churches of Indiana and Illi- 
nois. In 1866 he was called to the pastorate 
of the First Christian church of Greenpoint, 
Brooklyn. Here he was ordained under the 
direction of the New York Eastern Confer- 
ence on his twentieth birthday, December 20, 
1867. He was pastor of his first charge for 
fourteen years till 1880, when he retired, 
leaving it in a self-supporting condition and 
with a fine new church building, just com- 
pleted. He served in three other pastorates, 
the First Christian church of Fall River, 
Mass., 1880-1886; the St. Paul Evangelical 
church, Thirty-fourth St., New York, 1886- 
1888, and the Main Street Free Baptist 
church, Lewiston, Me., the College church of 
Bates College, 1888-1898. 

Dr. Martyn Summerbell has always been 
connected with education and associated with 
educational institutions. From 1874 to 1895 
he was Non-resident Professor of Pastoral 
Theology in the theological seminary of the 
Christians, the Christian Biblical Institute, 
which then was located at Stanfordville, N. 



52 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

Y., and to which he gave lectures three or 
four times a year. In the last three years of 
his stay in Maine he was instructor in 
Church History in the Cobb Divinity School, 
which was connected with Bates College. 

In 1898 he was elected President of 
Starkey Seminary in central New York to 
whose interests he has since been devoted. 
Under his administration and by the help of 
the late Francis A. Palmer, of New York, the 
school has been greatly improved. It has 
new and modern buildings and has an endow- 
ment of over a hundred thousand dollars. Its 
instruction is superior. 

For several years Dr. Martyn Summer- 
bell has been Non-resident Professor of 
Church History of Elon College, North Caro- 
lina, where he gives a course of lectures 
annually in January, and Vice-President of 
Defiance College, in Ohio, and Lecturer on 
History and Economics. He visits Defiance 
College at set appointments in the college 
calendar three times a year. 

In 1885 he issued "Special Services for 
Ministers," a pastor's handbook for funerals, 
marriages, etc., which his denomination was 
lacking in up to that time. With others he 
assisted in the production of "The People's 



THE FAMILY 53 

Bible History," which was issued in 1897 by 
Henry Shepherd of Chicago. Later he edited 
"The Writings and Addresses of Austin 
Craig," in two volumes. More recently 
he has produced two volumes of col- 
lege sermons, "Religion in College Life," 
1913, Revell ; "Faith for the College Man," 
Christian Publishing Association, 1915, and 
"Manhood in Its American Type," 1916, R. 
G. Badger. 

He received from the College of the City 
of New York the degrees of A. B. and A. M. 
After a three year postgraduate course in 
Comparative Religion in the New York Uni- 
versity that institution granted the degree 
of Ph. D. He received the degree of D. D. 
from Union Christian College and of LL. D. 
from Elon College. He was elected to the 
Phi Beta Kappa Society and is a member of 
several learned societies and fraternal organ- 
izations. 

He was active in the organization of the 
Interdenominational Commission of Maine, 
and was one of those who assisted in the 
formation of the Federal Council of the 
Churches of Christ in America, and still 
represents his denomination in that body. 



54 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

He was married to Elizabeth P. Corwith, 
of Brooklyn, N. Y., in 1872. They have had 
seven children: Ray, Flora, Grace, Ferris, 
Laura, Edith, and Sidney Frank. The first 
is married to Fred J. Chase, Esq., of Kansas 
City, Mo. ; Miss Flora is living with her par- 
ents and is Registrar of Palmer Institute- 
Starkey Seminary; Grace is married to Dr. 
Carl S. Coffin, of Pittsfield, Me. Ferris Sum- 
merbell adopted the profession of medicine 
and is a surgeon in charge of a private hos- 
pital at Nahma, Michigan. Laura was a 
popular teacher of French in the Birming- 
ham High School, Alabama, and was married 
to Robert B. Spence, of Syracuse, N. Y. She 
deceased in 1913. The youngest daughter 
was a teacher in Oberlin, Ohio, and in Wash- 
ington, D. C. She married Mr. Richard H. 
Long, of New York City. The youngest 
child, Sidney, is an invalid, and lives with his 
parents at Lakemont, New York. 

CARLYLE SUMMERBELL 

1873— 

Rev. Carlyle Summerbell, the only son 
of Dr. J. J. Summerbell and Alice Bell, was 
born at Springboro, Pa., November 24, 1873. 



THE FAMILY 55 

His father at the time was pastor of the 
Springboro Christian church. While Dr. J. 
J. Summerbell was living at Philadelphia and 
acting at Secretary of The American Chris- 
tian Convention, Carlyle was placed in the 
Clag'horn Grammar School. On the removal 
of his father to Lewisburg, Pa., to assume 
the pastorate of the Christian church of that 
village the son attended Bucknell Academy, 
where he w^as graduated from the classical 
course in 1893. He at once was matriculated 
at Bucknell University from which he was 
graduated cum laude in 1897 and received 
the degree of A. B. His Master's degree 
follovv^ed two years later from the same uni- 
versity, following an examination in New 
Testament Greek and Psychology. Still later 
he attended lectures at Harvard Divinity 
School in Massachusetts. 

In 1897 he was ordained to the ministry 
in the Christian church at Hope, N. J., on 
v/hich occasion the sermon was delivered by 
his father, Dr. J. J. Summerbell. It was in 
the same church fifty-four years before that 
his grandparents. Dr. Nicholas Summerbell 
and Euphemia J. Sutton had been married. 

Dr. Carlyle Summerbell was pastor of the 
First Christian church of Dayton, Ohio, from 



56 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

1897 to 1899, when he was elected President 
of Palmer College, which then was at Le- 
grand, Iowa. He was at the head of this 
institution for seven years, for two years of 
which period he was also pastor of the Chris- 
tian church at Legrand. 

In 1906 he accepted charge of the Chris- 
tian church at Swansea, Mass., which he 
served for the next two years, when he was 
called to the First Christian church of Fall 
River, Mass., in charge of which he passed 
the next six years. His father's uncle, Rev. 
B. F. Summerbell, had served the Swansea 
church for three years, from 1854 to 1857; 
and his cousin, Dr. Martyn Summerbell, had 
been pastor of the Fall River church for the 
six years from 1880 to 1886. On leaving 
Fall River a banquet was served in his honor 
by the Fall River clergy, and his retirement 
was the occasion of general regret. 

From Fall River he turned to New Hamp- 
shire, where the Christian church of Wolfe- 
boro had tendered him a call. He is still in 
charge of this church and also has the care 
of the Union church of South Wolfeboro. 

He has been Secretary of the New England 
Christian Convention and while in Fall River 
was chosen President of the Fall River Min- 



THE FAMILY 57 

isterial Union. He is now President of the 
Home Mission Board of the Christians. In 
1906 he received the honorary degree of Doc- 
tor of Divinity from Palmer College. 

Dr. Carlyle Summerbell is an able and elo- 
quent preacher, and by his tender spirit won 
quickly the heart of every parish which he 
has held. As educator and college president 
he was efficient and successful. As a writer 
he wields a tranchant pen and is master of 
a perspicuous and attractive style. At the 
conferences and conventions of the Christian 
Church he is in regular attendance and he is 
active and prominent in their deliberations. 
He displays a deep interest in the social wel- 
fare of the community and is frequently con- 
tributing to the press important articles on 
social questions. 

He was married to Susannah E. Kerr on 
January 6, 1896, and they have three chil- 
dren, Faith, Robert Kerr, and Marie. 

THE SURVIVING MALE SUMMER- 
BELLS 

Of the American branch of the Summer- 
bell family there are at the present time eight 
male representatives surviving. They are 



58 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

distributed about the country as hereinafter 
stated : 

Rev. Marty n Summerbell, D. D., educator 
and clergyman, Lakemont, N. Y., son of Ben- 
jamin Ferris Summerbell and Elizabeth 
Martin, b. Naples, N. Y., Dec. 20, 1847. 

Ferris Summerbell, M. D., physician and 
surgeon; son of Martyn Summerbell and 
Elizabeth P. Corwith; b. Brooklyn, N. Y., 
Sept. 23, 1878. 

Sidney Frank Summerbell, invalid ; son of 
Martyn Summerbell and Elizabeth P. Cor- 
with ; b. Craigville, Mass., August 31, 1892. 

Martyn King Summerbell, infant; son of 
Dr. Ferris Summerbell and Josephine King; 
b. Nahma, Mich., Sept. 23, 1914. 

Richard Corwith Summerbell, infant; son 
of Dr. Ferris Summerbell and Josephine 
King; b. Nahma, Mich., November 2, 1916. 

Frank Nicholas Summerbell, retired farm- 
er, Milton, Wisconsin; son of Rev. James 
Summerbell and Rachel Lawshe; b. July 23, 
1852. 



THE FAMILY 59 

Charles James Summerbell, farmer, Mil- 
ton, Wisconsin ; son of Frank N. Summerbell 
and Olive J. Cornwall; b. Milton, Wis., May 

20, 1884. 

Rev. Carlyle Summerbell, D. D., clergyman 
and educator, Wolfeboro, N. H. ; son of Dr. 
J. J. Summerbell and Alice Bell; b. Spring- 
boro. Pa., November 24, 1873. 

Robert Kerr Summerbell, Wolfeboro, N. 
H. ; son of Rev. Carlyle Summerbell and 
Susannah E. Kerr; b. Legrand, Iowa, July 
30, 1904. 



THE GOSPEL MINISTER 



THE GOSPEL MINISTER 

BY REV. S. Q. HELFENSTEIN, D. D. 

WORDS are vehicles of thought and 
the thought which words convey is 
often modified by the life of the 
one who uses the words. Every life is a 
ministry, but whether he who lives the life 
is a minister of good depends upon his 
relation to Jesus. 

A minister is one who ministers, and a 
gospel minister is one who administers the 
gospel. Jesus said, "Let him that is greatest 
among you be your minister." Many who 
assume the role of minister seem to have lost 
the spirit of service and deem themselves 
worthy to be ministered unto. But when 
men become possessed of the spirit of Jesus 
they are glad with Him to take the place of 
the servant and service becomes sweet. Some 
minister with their eyes, some by their 
smiles, and some by their frowns, while 
others minister by their silent, unconscious, 
unassumed dignity, by the musical cadences 



64 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

of their voices as they set forth personally 
evolved truths from God's Word. 

It is not easy to minister to the deeper 
needs of humanity. Some attempt this by 
dispensing worn-out theories and antiquated 
dogmas, but it is not enough to follow 
routine and simply do as others have done. 
Each age, with its complexity of problems 
and changing conditions, demands a new 
type of ministry and he who would minister 
successfully to the people of his time must 
be capable of giving to the world new inter- 
pretations of the Word of life. The Bible 
is a progressive book. Its broad, compre- 
hensive teachings are susceptible of progres- 
sive interpretations. When Christ came He 
found the Jewish world enslaved by tradi- 
tion. It was a part of His ministry to break 
the shackles that bound men and bid them go 
free. This He did by the proper use and 
right interpretation of the Scriptures to 
which they professed to adhere. Many are 
incapable of independent thought and new 
interpretations of the Word, by which it be- 
comes adapted to meet the present needs of 
seekers after truth. Too many are contented 
to follow the beaten paths of the past. Their 
treasure house is filled only with the old. 



i 



THE GOSPEL MINISTER 65 

They have not evolved or discovered the new, 
so their ministry lacks freshness and vigor, 
consequently theirs is not a ministry of the 
highest order. Neither by precept nor by 
example do they call out the best that is in 
those to whom they would minister. 

To succeed in ministering to the intelli- 
gence and spiritual nature of his fellows, one 
must do somxething besides the re-hashing of 
what has been gone over by others. He must 
come to know the truth by personal investi- 
gation and personal experience, for only in 
this way can he become free himself and be 
fitted to im-part a knowledge of the truth that 
will help others find freedom. 

There are men who to-day are preaching 
the hard dogmatic theology of the dark ages, 
not because they have discovered it as a great 
truth from God's Yford, but because they 
have accepted it at the hands of those who 
have read into the Word pagan ideas or 
interpreted it in the light (darkness) of 
heathen mythology. The minister who would 
win his fellows must minister to their hearts, 
but a message contradictory to human reason 
and common sense may be so barred by an 
intelligent, thinking brain as never to reach 
the heart. "My words are spirit and they 



66 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

are life/' said Jesus. Ability to interpret 
Jesus' life and teaching to a needy world is 
evidence of fitness to minister. 

THE GOSPEL 

The gospel is God's love-message by means 
of which men are to be brought under the 
redemptive power of divine grace and quick- 
ened into new life. The gospel is a tran- 
script of what Jesus taught and was, during 
His earthly ministry. It is the embodiment 
of divine truth. It is the interpretation of 
God's relation to man, man's relation to God, 
and man's relation to man. All this was per- 
sonally set forth in the matchless life of 
Christ. The gospel shows us the possibility 
of holiness — right relation toward God, who 
says, ''Be ye holy, for I the Lord thy God am 
holy." It shows also the beauty of a sinless, 
harmless life. Jesus taught us that we should 
be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. 
The gospel makes clear the necessity of per- 
sonal purity. "Blessed are the pure in heart, 
for they shall see God." All these qualities 
and relationships are fully exemplified in 
Christ, who was the embodiment of the gos- 
pel, for we are told that ''He was holy, harm- 
less, undefiled and separate from sinners." 



THE GOSPEL MINISTER 67 

The gospel, then, is the power by which man 
is brought into a twofold relationship, sub- 
jective and objective. By the regenerating 
grace of God, he is born anew and becomes 
conscious of his spiritual sonship. Having 
passed from death unto life, he exultantly 
cries, *'Abba, Father/' Having been made 
partaker of the divine nature and having 
escaped the corruption that is in the world, 
he becomes conscious of a new relationship 
by means of which he is brought into fellow- 
ship with all the family of God. To present 
this gospel to one's fellows, to interpret it 
through a life of loving devotion, to impress 
its message on the hearts of men, to bring 
its truths home to the soul's consciousness 
by a ministry of self-denial and self-sacrifice, 
is no small task. This Dr. J. J. Summerbell 
did in full measure. 

He did not allow himself to be hampered 
by the dogmatisms of men, but he sought 
spiritual interpretation, rational application, 
and personal confirmation of the truth he 
gave to others. He did not belittle his minis- 
try by the use of borrowed thought, but hon- 
ored the Lord with well-beaten oil, for his 
was a ministry of deep, earnest meditation 
and careful preparation. He did not give 



68 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

the people what had cost him nothing, or 
what others said, unless he could find a 
"Thus saith the Lord" to confirm the state- 
ment. He preached the gospel because he 
saw in the gospel, when rightly applied, the 
remedy for all man's social ills, industrial 
oppression, and moral degradation. 

Under his masterful interpretation of the 
truth the adjuncts of physical demonstration 
and boisterous manifestation were not 
needed. He strove not for oratory, yet he was 
a true orator; he sought not to be eloquent, 
yet words fell from his lips in such sweet 
cadences as to make them truly eloquent. 
His messages were not delivered with the 
thought that physical force is requisite to 
make the truth penetrating. He gave his 
message with a sweet, persuasive winsome- 
ness that won and held the attention of his 
hearers. His messages were full of love and 
tenderness, yet his was not an emasculated 
gospel. He preached repentance and called 
upon men to forsake their sins as the only 
means of entering into life — the life or right- 
eousness by faith in Christ. The righteous- 
ness by which he would have men saved is 
one that is inwrought by the power of a liv- 
ing faith which works by love and purifies 



THE GOSPEL MINISTER 69 

the heart. He taught that God's children 
should possess a righteousness resulting 
from right relations with God and with their 
fellow men. He frequently quoted the words 
of Jesus, ''Except your righteousness exceed 
the righteousness of the scribes and Phari- 
sees, ye shall in no case enter into the king- 
dom of heaven." 

Dr. Summerbell thought of a minister as 
one chosen of God to preach the gospel of 
His Son, to minister to the moral and spirit- 
ual needs of men. Some substances are 
transmitters of light, some are reflectors, and 
some are refractors. God wants men to 
transmit His gospel through life and lips. 
Putty men, men who let others do their 
thinking for them, cannot transmit the gos- 
pel with power and efficiency because they 
themselves have not experienced its emanci- 
pating influence from stereotyped forms of 
thought and fossilized fogyism. Dr. Sum- 
merbell realized this and refused to pay trib- 
ute to the makers of church theology. To 
him Christianity was more than theology. 
He was a minister with a vision. He be- 
lieved that Christ's prayer for the unity of 
His followers would be answered. To him 
truth was mighty and he was not afraid to 



70 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

preach an unpopular truth or doctrine. He 
was gifted with such rare soul qualities that, 
when presented in his masterful way, truth 
did not seem unpopular or objectionable. 

One striking feature in connection with Dr. 
Summerbell's preaching was the good taste 
he displayed in the selection and treatment of 
his texts. There was method in the prepara- 
tion and delivery of his sermons. He never 
resorted to sensationalism in his preaching. 
God was never made to appear hideous. He 
saw a beautiful harmony in the revealed 
Word. He was gifted in the art of letting 
Scripture interpret Scripture and his inter- 
pretations were always interesting and in- 
structive. 

He did not weary his auditors with long- 
drawn-out introductions in which the preacher 
is made prominent, neither did he exhaust 
their patience in an effort to reach a climax 
for which preparation had not been made. 
Many ministers will make three personal 
references where they mention Jesus once. 
Not so Dr. Summerbell. His sermons were 
jewels, cut and polished in his study so that 
when presented to his audience they sparkled 
with brightness and freshness of thought. 
He was gifted with ability rightly to divide 



THE GOSPEL MINISTER 71 

the word of truth. Under his preaching lis- 
tening was easy. Step by step truth was 
unfolded and with the progress of the dis- 
course believers were enveloped in an atmos- 
phere of reverence toward God, the Infinite 
Father. 

During the delivery of his sermon no one 
ever had occasion to say "I wish he was 
through.'* He never practiced padding. His 
sentences were full of helpful, significant 
thought. The big end of his sermons never 
came first. The arrangement was climatic 
and he always knew when he was through 
and when to stop. Like Paul, he delighted 
to preach Christ, and his delineations of the 
character of the Son of God were marvel- 
ously beautiful, filling his hearers with admi- 
ration for, and longing desires to be like 
Jesus, for he showed Him to be the King in 
His beauty and the One altogether lovely. He 
never tired of exalting Christ in His true 
Sonship, for to him sonship was deeply sig- 
nificant. It expressed a vital relationship 
and not merely a divine manifestation. To 
him son meant Son in the sublimest sense. 
Doctor Summerbell did not speculate where 
Scripture is silent. He believed with 
Matthew 11 : 25 — "All things are delivered 



72 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

unto me of my Father, and no one knoweth 
the Son save the Father; neither doth any 
know the Father save the Son and he to 
whom the Son willeth to reveal him/' 

He placed unbounded confidence in the 
Word of God. Where it leads he unflinch- 
ingly followed ; where it is silent, he did not 
indulge in theological ventures. As a 
preacher and teacher — for he was a teaching 
preacher — he magnified the written Word of 
God, accepting in its fulness and simplicity 
that Word. He preached its truths with con- 
fidence. He taught its precepts as essential 
to man's physical, mental, moral, and spirit- 
ual welfare. He believed and preached that 
God had a purpose in giving and preserving 
the word of life and he was ever a loyal 
champion for the integrity of that word. 

Under his ministry the Bible glowed with 
light and when he read it in public none ever 
thought of it as a dry book; when by com- 
ment or sermon he unfolded its sublime 
truths a deep love for the Word was the 
result, and each one felt that heart was 
speaking to heart. By his natural grace and 
spiritual dignity men's thoughts were uncon- 
sciously turned to the contemplation of 
higher things. For him preaching was easy 



THE GOSPEL MINISTER 73 

because of his comprehensive grasp of the 
gospel and his clear conception of the intent 
of its message. His illustrations were not 
of a jocular nature, but serious and perti- 
nent. Altogether it was a rare privilege to 
hear him preach, for he inspired the soul 
with hope and filled the heart with confi- 
dence. He never distracted or weakened 
believers, but always built them up in the 
divine life. Many will remember the charm- 
ing sweetness with which he gave his dis- 
courses on "The Mountains of the Bible." 
His strong imagination enabled him to 
describe scenes and paint word pictures with 
such vividness that the rapt listener would 
forget his surroundings and fancy himself 
in the Holy Land. 

He was a man greatly to be admired for 
his integrity to the truth and to be loved for 
his devotion to its proper interpretation and 
correct application. Loyally he served the 
congregations to which he ministered. He 
found pleasure in exposing error, for he 
knew how potent error is to becloud the mind 
and hinder the entrance of God's word which 
gives light. His was one of those rarely 
gifted natures whose worth is never fully 
known until after the privilege of enjoying 
his public ministrations has ceased. 



THE PASTOR AND PREACHER 



THE PASTOR AND PREACHER 

BY REV. HUGH A. SMITH, D. D. 

NOWHERE else in all the activities 
which engage human lives is a 
greater versatility required than in 
the pastorate. Its duties are as varied 
as the needs and personalities of men. 
To be able to successfully meet their ever 
changing demands requires training and 
grace as well as intellectual ability. Paul 
expresses it in these words, "I am become all 
things to all men, that I may by all means 
save some." 

Dr. J. J. Summerbell was a successful pas- 
tor. This fact will help some of succeeding 
generations to a like achievement, for the 
successes and failures of life are demonstra- 
tions of eternal principles. Their applica- 
tion always produces similar results. These 
words are written with the earnest hope that 
they may call the attention of some young 
ministers to the work of one who was a 
great pastor, that from his life they may 
receive instruction for their work. 



78 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

Dr. Summerbell did not have many pas- 
torates and, as is universally true, it was in 
the longest that his greatest work was done. 
He was pastor at Blockville and Jacksonville, 
Illinois; Des Moines, Iowa; Springboro and 
Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, and Milford, New 
Jersey. While at Milford, he preached at 
Finesville and Frenchtown as out-stations. 
His longest pastorate was here at the place 
of his nativity, where his father also had 
been a successful pastor. For twelve years 
he was with this people and had the satis- 
faction of both sowing and reaping largely. 

Let us analyze his success and see what 
elements it contains. In the first place were 
his sermons. In the work of bringing in the 
kingdom in its fulness, preaching the word 
will ever hold a foremost place. We may try 
substitutes, but preaching meets a spiritual 
need which nothing else can reach. His 
sermons were scholarly, spiritual, and lucid. 
The great mind always produces a sermon 
that can be understood by all. It is the lesser 
mind in strength and caliber that can suc- 
cessfully conceal thought in a mob of words. 

The second element in his success was 
systematic visitation. Of the many things 
which a pastor must do, visiting is the one in 



THE PASTOR AND PREACHER 79 

which the fewest find delight. Nevertheless 
it is a vital element in pastoral success, made 
more important now than heretofore because 
of the drift developed by present day social 
forces. One reason why so many pastors 
find it so irksome is because it is too often 
done in a haphazard way. When there is a 
lull in the daily round of work the average 
pastor uses the time "making calls." Often 
the objective is to put in the time rather than 
meeting the greatest need or doing the larg- 
est good. Pastor Summerbell regulated his 
visiting by a well-defined system. Three 
simple factors were all that he employed to 
produce this scheme. They were time, local- 
ity, and parishioners. A definite time was 
allotted to visitation. It would be impossible 
for any one to adhere strictly to this, but it 
would surprise many to learn how near they 
could come to it if they tried. If possible he 
permitted nothing to interfere with the 
special work of this time. This period for 
any one day was spent in as small a district 
as practical. He did not go from one part 
of the parish to another unless there was 
some urgent reason for it. He used the time 
to the best advantage by calling on each 
parishioner in the visited section, thus seeing 



80 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

the largest number with the least amount of 
time and travel. In this way there was no 
one, rich or poor, young or old, but what 
received an equal share of pastoral attention. 

In his duty prompt at every call, 
He watch'd and wept, he pray'd and felt for all; 
And, as a bird each fond endearment tries, 
To tempt its new-fledged offspring to the skies. 
He tried each art, reproved each dull delay, 
Allured to brighter worlds, and led the way. 

It was not only in his pastoral visitation 
that we find him systematic, but all his life 
was characterized by this trait, hence the 
minimum of waste in time and energy. Even 
his faultless attire was always suggestive of 
this feature of Dr. Summerbell's personality. 
His study room was a revelation to his 
friends who were so fortunate as to visit him 
in it. No misplaced books there. Whatever 
the subject under discussion, he could turn 
at once to the best authority concerning it. 
There was never any time lost, looking for a 
desired paper in that study. There v/as no 
manuscript but what was in its appointed 
place. It was his workshop. He not only 
had the best of tools, but they were kept in 
good condition and each in its own place. It 
was just such a place as we ought to expect 
of one who has been commanded, "Give 



THE PASTOR AND PREACHER 81 

diligence to present thyself approved unto 
God, a workman that needeth not to be 
ashamed, handling aright the word of truth/' 
A lack of system is a great weakness in the 
work of many pastors, a weakness which will 
subtract largely from the sum total of life's 
realized possibilities. System conserves time 
and energy, both of which are precious 
assets in a pastor's work. For our younger 
ministers especially, one of the most valuable 
lessons which the life of Dr. Summerbell 
teaches is the importance and power of sys- 
tematic work. We who knew him personally 
will never forget the spirit of certainty that 
characterized his words and actions. It was 
the natural sequence of his systematic study, 
work, and life. There was never that lack 
of assurance which comes from mere guess 
work, or vague ideas, or confused plans. 

The third element in his success was 
promptness. Its lack in a pastor, acts as a 
slow poison to his church and in time mani- 
fests itself in all its work. Pastor Summer- 
bell was always prompt, a virtue which any 
one may cultivate. He was prompt in the 
services of the church and in all his engage- 
ments. He likewise met all his obligations, 
financial, business, civil, social, religious, or 



82 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

of any other nature. This promptness, 
always the same in everything, is illustrated 
by an incident related to me by Brother N. 
E. Westenberger, who was financial secre- 
tary of the Dayton First Church during my 
pastorate there. In his official engagements 
with him, Dr. Summerbell was always at the 
appointed place at the minute designated. By 
arrangement he was to come to Mr. Westen- 
berger's home one evening at six o'clock. At 
two minutes before the hour Mr. Westen- 
berger looked up the street and remarked to 
his wife that for once in his life Dr. Summer- 
bell would be late, as he was nowhere in 
sight. Just then he turned into Olive Street 
from a nearer point than they expected him, 
and at a half minute before six o'clock he 
knocked at the door of the Westenberger 
home. Thus throughout his life he promptly 
met the duty at hand and it aided him to 
accomplish more than others who were not 
so prompt. 

The last element in his pastoral success 
was his evangelistic work. He was a believer 
in special evangelistic services and frequent- 
ly conducted them himself. Such services 
have come into disrepute with many good 
people because of cheap and sensational 



THE PASTOR AND PREACHER 83 

methods introduced by small men for reve- 
nue and self glory. We are told that it is 
necessary to speak to the people in the lan- 
guage of the street and to do the unusual to 
attract their attention. Taking this as his 
standard, some man with marked ability for 
such things becomes an adept in buffoonry 
and gives it a tawdry setting in language 
which the man and woman of refinement 
would not permit to be used in their homes. 
At once a hundred men of lesser ability, but 
of like ideals and mistaken ideas, ape the 
success. Some good people are educated into 
believing that such things are necessary to 
bring the gospel of eternal life to men and 
women of good sense. Dr. SummerbelFs 
success as a pastor-evangelist proves the 
falseness of such a view. Nothing cheap or 
vulgar ever detracted from the beauty of his 
message or marred the dignity of his con- 
duct. They were always such as are fitting 
to convey the word of God to an immortal 
soul. He got results, lasting results, and 
what he did, brother pastor, you can do. You 
may not create such a temporary furor nor 
get such large crowds, nor such extensive 
publicity. Our lamented brother never con- 
fused success with numbers or with publicity 



84 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

but remained true to a high ideal and suc- 
ceeded. As he did, so all should make the 
language and action, by which they convey 
the message of life to the subjects of death, 
harmonize with its nature and purpose. 

Because of his long and successful work as 
a pastor and his own personality Dr. Sum- 
merbell was peculiarly fitted to advise other 
pastors. I had the honor of being his pas- 
tor at the time of his death and for a year 
and a half preceeding, but he would never 
voluntarily offer advice to me. No doubt he 
saw my blunders and mistakes, but he would 
never offer a suggestion for fear of intrud- 
ing upon what he considered the rights of a 
pastor. Even when his advice was sought 
he would be very reserved about what he 
said for fear he would go beyond the bounds 
of propriety, which he believed courtesy 
toward a pastor required. On the other hand 
he did not hesitate to commend what he 
thought worthy. Not with a lavishness of 
words, as it is sometimes done, but with a 
few words earnestly spoken, so there could 
be no doubt about their sincerity. Many 
men think it very difficult to fill the pulpit 
of the First Church because of the number 
of ex-pastors in the congregation. In con- 



THE PASTOR AND PREACHER 85 

versation with a fellow minister one day- 
regarding this condition he said he could 
never preach there because he would be 
thinking about these men all the time. Espe- 
cially would he think of Dr. Summerbell, who 
Y8LS always so scholarly, dignified, and exact 
in his language and statements. I told him 
there wasn't another man in the denomina- 
tion who could see more in a poor sermon 
than Dr. Summerbell, and I have never had 
any reason to think differently. 

Let us receive instruction, fellow pastors, 
from these traits of Dr. Summerbell, for 
it may be that some of us will sometime 
sustain a similar relation to some pastor as 
that which he held for a number of years 
toward those of the First Church. Then 
memory will be filled with the beautiful and 
inspiring. 

I am fully aware that this chapter inade- 
quately presents this important subject. But 
if it helps some young pastor to make his 
own that noble conception of the pastorate 
that Dr. Summerbell held, it shall not have 
been written in vain. In closing I want to 
relate an incident which took place just a 
few weeks before his death. I want to relate 
it because of the principle involved and 



86 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

because it has been a help to me many times. 
It is surprising to learn in how many differ- 
ent ways this principle may be applied in our 
relations as pastors. Dr. Summerbell died 
February 28, 1913. In the first part of the 
month I went to Genntown to help Rev. E. 
G. Walk in a series of meetings. I was to be 
gone over one Sunday and asked Dr. Sum- 
merbell to preach in the First Church the 
morning and evening of February 16th, 
which he consented to do. These were his 
last sermons and the only time he preached 
in the present First Church building. On 
February 2d I announced that he was to 
preach on the above named date. A member 
of the church, who was a good friend of his, 
requested me to ask him to preach on bap- 
tism. On February 7th I met him at the 
elevator door on the fourth floor of The 
Christian Publishing Association Building. 
He was there on business connected with his 
last book. I made known the request to him. 
He asked if I wanted him to preach on that 
subject. I told him that it did not matter to 
me and that any theme he might select would 
be satisfactory. Then he asked me why this 
person requested him rather than me to 
preach on this subject. I said, "Dr. Summer- 



THE PASTOR AND PREACHER 87 

bell, your belief and mine about baptism are 
altogether different and our friend believes 
as you do." I shall never forget the expres- 
sion on his face nor the tone of his voice. In 
a low yet decisive voice he said, ''I shall 
preach from some other subject. Good morn- 
ing," and passed down the hallway. The 
matter was never mentioned by either of us 
again. 



THE ORATOR 



THE ORATOR 

BY REV. F. H. PETERS, D. D. 

Pure and eloquent blood 
Spoke in his speech 
And so distinctly wrought 
That one might almost say 
His body thought. 

ORATORY is the parent of liberty. By 
the constitution of things it was 
ordained that eloquence should be 
the last stay and support of liberty, and 
that with her she is ever destined to live, 
flourish, and die. It is to the interest of 
tyrants to cripple every species of eloquence. 
They have no other safety." 

Those words of the brilliant Henry Hard- 
wicke are true to the last degree of litera- 
ture, politics, and religion. The ancient 
Greeks and Egyptians believed that the art 
of eloquence was of celestial origin and they 
cultivated it with the utmost diligence. When 
Athens and Rome were in their glory, the 
orator was a conspicuous figure and his art 
admitted him to the highest honors. Elo- 
quence was a life study, the superior of all 



92 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

other attainments, and continued so till the 
finer instincts of Roman life had fallen into 
decay. 

Oratory has had a most vital relation to 
the great moral movements of the world. 
The flaming tongues of men with souls on lire 
have been moving causes in the world's for- 
ward steps. In no country is this more true 
than in our own. It were difficult to imagine 
our Struggle for Independence without the 
fiery voices of Patrick Henry and his com- 
patriots, or the Emancipation of the Slave 
without the thrilling eloquence of Phillips 
and Beecher. The beautiful truths of the 
Kingdom of God were proclaimed by One 
whose mastery of the orator's art is unsur- 
passed in the annals of the world. He who 
would know the secret of eloquence will find 
it in the matchless style and content of the 
sayings of Jesus Christ. He commissioned 
His disciples to spread His gospel by the 
same means. The spoken Word was to be the 
compelling force that would "turn men from 
darkness to light and from the power of 
Satan unto God." In Peter's address on the 
day of Pentecost, and in Paul's on Mars Hill 
and before Agrippa, the tides of New Testa- 
ment eloquence are at the flood, and the peo- 



THE ORATOR 93 

pie who hear them are moved by the resist- 
less magnetism of the orator's appeal. In 
later times eloquence has been an indispensa- 
ble factor in the spread of the truth and the 
growth of the Kingdom. 

At present, conditions are essentially the 
same. The spokesmen in our modern times 
do need "vent" as Emerson says, but it needs 
to be vent of the right kind. Many a truth 
has been refused by hungry hearers because 
of the repulsive container in which it was 
served. The influence of the pulpit is greatly 
diminished because ministers ''have not come 
to realize to any appreciable extent the value 
of thorough training in the art of expres- 
sion." We hear much about the speaker's 
need to master his subject before he attempts 
to speak, but no less is his need to master 
himself. This the average man cannot do, 
let his native gifts be what they will, without 
careful training in the art of public speech. 

No young minister should allow himself to 
be led astray by the fact that certain rare 
souls have seemed to possess the gift of elo- 
quence without taking special training. 
"Born orators," we call them whom we 
feared a course in elocution would spoil. 
Probably so in some exceptional case because 



94 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

begun too late. But what of the many 
Christian ministers in every denomination 
consigned to mediocrity in position and in- 
fluence because they have not learned the art 
of effective public address? This is one of 
the tragedies of the modern pulpit. The 
truth of God as it is revealed in Jesus Christ 
would have much wider chance to "run and 
be glorified" in the hearts of the multitude, 
if those who proclaim it would first learn 
how to present it in the most effective way. 
Crude mannerisms of voice, phrase, and 
gesture, tend to clog the channel and greatly 
hinder its flow. 

And what is the price of this charming 
grace? Study and practice. There is no 
other. Here, as elsewhere, there can be "No 
excellency without great labor." No possi- 
ble path leads to it save the rugged one up 
which we must struggle to the mastery of 
body and mind. Investments in voice, vocab- 
ulary, style, imagination, memory, articula- 
tion, emphasis, gesture, etc., pay every pub- 
lic speaker large dividends and to none do 
they give more liberal returns than to the 
minister of the gospel. This is of tremen- 
dous importance since his divine commission 
is to preach. The first and constant task of 



THE ORATOR 95 

the Christian minister is the sermon, and 
woe betide him if he prepare not himself to 
deliver it with the strongest possible effect. 

The character of the religious movement 
which culminated in the formation of the 
Christian Church was such as would natur- 
ally produce orators. In the past century 
this body of people has had more than its 
proportionate share of pulpit masters. These 
men were eloquent because they were the 
voluntary champions of a great cause to 
which they dedicated their talents and v/hich 
they loved more than life. Careful training 
in the orator's art and the opportunity to be 
heard in the great centers of population 
would have given many of them nation-wide 
fame. Some of them had these privileges and 
used them well; and we have no words in 
which to phrase fitting eulogy. As a people, 
the Christians have no more priceless herit- 
age than the rugged faith, intellectual hon- 
esty, and burning zeal of these stalwart men. 

Rev. J. J. Summerbell, D. D., was one of 
this giant race of Christian ministers who 
lived in our own time. Born of a father 
whose strength of character and fiery elo- 
quence were known throughout the land, and 
of a mother whose even temper and gentle- 



96 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

ness of spirit gave rare charm to her life, 
he inherited the instincts of the true orator. 
An intense love for truth as he understood it, 
an independence of thought which made him 
perfectly willing to stand alone, if need be, a 
marked gentleness and affability of manner 
which attracted people to him, and withal 
perfect mastery of himself which compelled 
attention and gave the impression of great 
reserve strength. Will any who ever heard 
him fail to recall the grace and elegance of 
his manner, the quiet control of every faculty, 
the simplicity of his diction, the fine dis- 
tinction in his choice of words, the clear 
enunciation, and the voice trained to obey 
his every command? His sermons on *'The 
Rejected King," "Martha," "Joab," etc., are 
striking examples of his eloquence at its best. 
As I heard him deliver it, the sermon on 
"Joab" was a piece of consummate art. It 
gave evidence of the labor and care in prepa- 
ration to which he accustomed himself. The 
fineness of the subject matter was intensified 
many times by the vivid imagination and 
dramatic touches in its delivery. That day 
truth and art were allies. 

The wise men who write books tell us that 
two essential elements in successful public 



THE ORATOR 97 

speaking are truth and personality. Firm 
faith in the trustworthiness of his message 
helps make the speaker a natural orator. 
"There is no need to exaggerate, to mince, 
nor distort, nor inflate, nor paint ; simply to 
speak it in the spirit of love and reverence 
and let it do its work." But truth alone is 
not enough. It must have a personality 
through which to express itself made up of 
manifold gifts and graces fused in the flame 
of devotion to humanity. And wherever the 
two — steadfast conviction of the truth of the 
message and consuming devotion to human- 
ity — are joined, there eloquence in its pure 
and most convincing form is sure to reign. 
Doctor Summerbell possessed these essen- 
tial elements in marked degree. Those who 
could not follow him on some questions of 
doctrine and church polity were compelled 
to admire the intensity of his convictions and 
his assurance of the truth. And his life work 
was wrought not for himself, but that 
humanity might enjoy the rights and priv- 
ileges of religious freedom. On no other 
ground is it possible to account for his eager- 
ness to devote his talents to an obscure people 
for so meager financial return. In his public 
speech a conviction of the truth was com- 



98 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

bined with attractive personality in such way 
as to give rare charm and force to his words. 
Whenever he spoke he seemed to have the 
ear and heart of his hearers and to move 
them by the subtle force of his graceful 
bearing. 

Whatever else may be true, the success of 
his ministry was due in large measure to his 
mastery of the art of expression. A mastery 
which every young man who feels himself 
called of God to preach the gospel of Jesus 
Christ should strive earnestly to obtain. 

In this Doctor Summerbell is to those who 
knew him and to those who follow after, both 
admonition and inspiration. 



THE THEOLOGIAN 



J 



THE THEOLOGIAN 

BY REV. 0. B. WHITAKER, D. D., LL. D. 

EVERY age, every nation, and every 
organization has its leaders. Some 
are technically so, some are really 
so, some are both. In the Christian 
Church, Dr. J. J. Summerbell was both; 
and was generally recognized as such both 
by those in the church and by those out- 
side. As an executive, as a scholar, as an 
author, as a pulpit orator, and as a pastor he 
won distinction; but probably the greatest 
honors are due him as a theologian. I have 
listened to his discourses in vain efforts to 
discern a single grammatical flaw or rhetor- 
ical error, I have seen him thrill an audience 
with magnificent oratory ; but my admiration 
reached its zenith as I listened to the course 
of Bible lectures delivered before the theo- 
logical students of Union Christian College 
in the year 1911, in which he showed him- 
self a masterful teacher and lecturer. 

His temperament admirably fitted him for 
his work as theologian ; for a theologian must 



102 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

not only be an investigator, but also an advo- 
cate. He must of necessity awaken opposi- 
tion that v^ill lead to controversy. He that 
would devote his life to teaching any but 
important truth is a trifler; he that would 
teach important truth, but shrink from a 
defense of the same is a coward ; — Dr. Sum- 
merbell was neither. In the presence of 
criticism, even angry and vindictive, he pos- 
sessed a calmness and composure that was 
the admiration of his friends and the wonder 
of his opponents; while the keenness, the 
kindness, the logic, and the power of his 
replies were often marvelous to both of them. 
As to his peculiar views, he had none. He 
was not a setter forth of new doctrines, but 
rather a sifter of the many conflicting theol- 
ogies of the schools of dogma. His only final 
criterion was the Word of God. He asked 
not. What might the Bible teach ? but. Does it 
teach? Not, What may it mean? but. What 
does it say? He preferred the society of 
Truth to the fellowship of schools of theol- 
ogy, and when he had found it he rested con- 
tent in its company; and (where it usually 
lies) he found it — not with either contending 
extreme, but between the two. He was 
opposed by Trinitarians because he rejected 



THE THEOLOGIAN 103 

not only their unscriptural terms and 
phrases but also the alien doctrines such 
terms and phrases convey. Likewise his the- 
ology was rejected by the Unitarians because 
his exalted ideas of the Christ could not be 
reconciled to their gross materialism. And 
what higher eulogy can be paid a theologian 
in this respect than to be rejected by both 
these unscriptural extremes? 

Dr. Summerbell has left to the world a 
very complete statement of his theological 
views in his published books, probably the 
most valuable of which is his ''Bible Doc- 
trine," in which are contained his views 
touching many of the important and widely 
discussed doctrines of Christianity. In a 
scholarly, calm, cultured, and judicious man- 
ner he has here weighed the evidence and 
presented his conclusions. The force of 
statement, the power of discernment, the 
logical and theological support of proposi- 
tions and the correctness of conclusions are 
marked characteristics of the book. 

He was never guilty of stating a doctrine 
in ambiguous or equivocal terms; but pre- 
ferred the simplest, plainest language; and 
the reader is never left in doubt as to his 
meaning. He despised the use of equivocal 



104 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

terms, regarding it, as it certainly is, an evi- 
dence of cowardice. But while he despised 
cowardice, he hated vv^ith all his soul dishon- 
esty, especially dishonesty in argument, most 
especially dishonesty in theological argu- 
ment. Probably the strongest evidence of 
this hatred is found in his book entitled 
"Trinitarian Forgeries," published anony- 
mously a few years before his death, the 
arguments and conclusions of which are irre- 
sistible. The spirit of the book as well as his 
own clear-cut views touching the doctrine 
under consideration are set forth in the open- 
ing words of the book in characteristic, clear, 
unmistakable language : 

This book is based on the principle that the Bible 
is true. The majority of Christian people believe 
the real doctrine of the Bible. The majority of 
theologians, however, teach certain errors, and accept 
forged Scriptures to prove them. Christian people 
generally believe the truth about the Father, Son, 
and Holy Spirit: That there is one infinite God, the 
Father; that Jesus Christ is the Son of God; and 
that the Holy Ghost is the Spirit of God. This is 
the doctrine of the Bible. 

He believed that the God of whom "all 
scripture is given by inspiration" is the same 
reasoning, logical, consistent God that "crea- 
ted the heavens and the earth;" and there- 
fore he looked for (and found) in the Scrip- 



THE THEOLOGIAN 105 

tures the same consistency with common 
sense and reason that he found in nature. To 
him *'the mystery of godliness" was not a 
curtain behind which only the priests might 
go to find a mass of unreasonable, illogical, 
irreconcilable contradictions of heathen the- 
ology, but a beautiful reference to the match- 
less love of God in bestowing upon the world 
its greatest gift. He therefore resented the 
mathematically impossible doctrine of three 
separate and distinct persons, each infinite 
and supreme God, yet but one infinite and 
supreme God. He rejected the unscriptural 
"tri-une God" for the scriptural ''One God," 
the unscriptural ''God the Son" for the scrip- 
tural "Son of God," the unscriptural "God 
the Holy Ghost" for the scriptural "Spirit 
of God." He refused to accept the doctrine 
of a supreme and eternal God that was 
himself a son and had a father, of a supreme 
and infinite God that "came to do the will" of 
another, of whom he could truthfully say, 
He is "greater than I," of the supreme and 
infinite God praying, when there could have 
been no higher power to hear and answer the 
prayer. In short, he rejected all the unscrip- 
tural terms and teachings of this, the oldest 
divisive doctrine of the Christian Church; 



106 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

and insisted instead upon the plain, pure lan- 
guage of Scripture, with its thousandfold 
more simple and beautiful teachings. 

On the other hand he resented with equal 
firmness and logic the attempt of Unitarians 
to drag his Lord and Master from His exalted 
throne "on the right hand of God'' to place 
him on a human throne. He believed with 
the grasp of a master's mind and the sim- 
plicity of a child's faith the pure sweet story 
of the conception and birth of the Babe of 
Bethlehem. To him there was a power greater 
than man in the voice that stilled the 
storm, in the touch that cleansed the leper, 
in the command that raised the dead, in the 
earthquake that shook Mount Calvary, and in 
the resurrection from the grave, — a power 
that exalted Him far above both men and 
angels, and seated Him upon His everlasting 
throne, second in all the universe to but One, 
the only supreme God, His Father. 

His last book, "Campbellism Is Rebellion," 
possesses a severity not found in his other 
writings, and without which it might have 
served its purpose better. But for this sever- 
ity of style he offers three reasons : first, that 
the book is not directed against any body of 
Christians or individuals, but against doc- 



THE THEOLOGIAN 107 

trines that he believes to be "the most inju- 
rious counterfeit of Christianity" of "the 
last hundred years ;" second, that under par- 
allel conditions the language of the Bible is 
equally severe; and third, that the founder 
of Campbellism and his followers are noted 
for sarcasm and severity of speech against 
those that differ from them. His keen intel- 
ligence, however, foresaw the probable effect 
of the severity of style he permitted himself 
to use in the book, for in the opening chap- 
ter he says: "That severe and apparently 
harsh language, with occasional sarcasm and 
irony, may be used in this book is to be 
regretted: for thereby many a reader will 
almost immediately be alienated from its 
conclusions." However, whatever may be 
said for or against the severity of the style 
of the book, it will nevertheless be the con- 
clusion of competent judges that examine it 
thoroughly that it is probably the strongest 
and most unanswerable polemic ever pub- 
lished against this system of theology. 

But the spirit of Dr. Summerbell was man- 
ifest most clearly and characteristically, not 
in the refutation of theological error that 
divided the followers of Christ, but in his 
earnest and splendid pleading for a fellow- 



108 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

ship based not upon theological agreement 
but upon charity that would welcome every 
earnest professor of faith in Christ. 

In conclusion, I pay my highest tribute to 
his memory and his works in this: Were I 
asked to make a list of the great men of the 
Christian Church that have left behind them 
their theological views in print, and whose 
writings I most highly recommend to the 
members of that church, and especially the 
young men of her ministry, the name that I 
would write at the head of the list is Dr. J. 
J. Summerbell. 



THE AUTHOR 



( 



THE AUTHOR 

BY REV. B. F. VAUGHAN 

DR. J. J. Summerbell was an indefatig- 
able worker, never wasting any time. 
He was an early riser — 5 : 00 a. m. — 
was clean in person, temperate in habit, 
careful in his diet ; thus fitting himself like a 
runner in the Grecian races for the best 
possible effort of each day. 

He lived in a world of thought. Although 
he was familiar with the best thought of 
some of the world's greatest and noblest 
thinkers, yet he dwelt in a region of thought 
largely of his own creation ; alone sometimes 
in the deep solitude of individual thought and 
reflection. 

Independent as he was in the realm of the 
mind, yet he humbly realized his own failings 
and weaknesses, when rightly understood by 
others, and loved to have communication and 
take counsel with those who could enter into 
his thought and who were his intimate 
friends. While somewhat controversial in 
temperament, yet he was brotherly, kind, and 



112 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

companionable toward those who understood 
him best. It was the privilege of the writer 
to stand in rather intimate relation with him 
in many of the experiences and conditions of 
life, having shared his hospitality in his 
home, and spent many hours with him in 
great enjoyment and a feeling of delightful 
fellowship. I have stood near to him and 
known him under some of the most bitter 
and trying experiences of life, "Times which 
try men's souls." 

When sorrow had ploughed through his 
heart as a field and left its deep upturned fur- 
roughs to be torn asunder by the cruel har- 
row of unfeeling criticism, it was then the 
true inwardness of the man was revealed. 

In the privacy of his editorial room he 
opened his heart to me, and the heroic spirit 
of the man was disclosed. He said that as 
he was passing through the mountains on a 
rapidly flying railway train, the tempter said 
to him : "Cast yourself off by leaping from 
the train into the rocky recesses of the moun- 
tain fastness, and thus end it all.'* And, said 
he, "Such a sad calamity might have over- 
taken me had it not been for my unfaltering 
faith and trust in the Eternal Goodness.'' 



THE AUTHOR 113 

He believed there was still a great work 
for him in life. He faced the future there- 
fore with heroic confidence in Him who is 
able to make "all things work together for 
good to them that love God." 

Again, we saw him stand unmoved, and 
with perfect control over himself, when bit- 
terly attacked and severely criticised by one 
who was officially related. Although un- 
justly charged in such an unbrotherly and 
unkind manner, yet he made no hasty reply, 
but in the dignity of a true gentleman, and 
the strength of a noble manhood he spoke no 
unkind word. When we remember the quick, 
ardent temperament of the man, we are the 
more impressed with the strength of char- 
acter of our friend and brother. Here is the 
man as we knew him. His work as a writer 
and author may have greater interest from 
the portrait given. 

The surest pledge of a deathless name 

Is the silent homage of thoughts unspoken. 

Great men have ofttimes been mistakenly 

regarded as the product of genius. Not so, 

for — 

The heights by great men reached and kept 
Were not attained by sudden flight, 
But they while their companions slept 
Were toiling upward through the night. 



114 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

What our brother achieved in knowledge 
or attainment as a writer, he gained through 
studious habits and close application to his 
life-work. He was a student all his life. A 
tireless worker, an earnest student of men 
and books. He seldom, if ever, read fiction, 
as other studies and reading demanded all 
his time. As a linguist he was familiar with 
Latin and Hebrew, and a very exact student 
in New Testament Greek, in which he made 
original investigations. As a writer he 
excelled in a clear, condensed style. This is 
apparent in all his writings. The power to 
sum up in a few words great and impressible 
truths is a faculty possessed by but compara- 
tively few writers. As an example of his 
power of condensation I quote some passages 
from that book of masterly grouping of his- 
torical matter in religious history, "An Out- 
line of Church History of the First Six 
Centuries." 

On pages 29 and 80 he says, speaking of 
the early Christians : 

Love was the bond that held them together. . . . 
We see a family. Love abounds. They scorn 
sectarianism even as they detest idolatry. He was 
greatest only who was most eminent in piety, or 
fruitful in service. The simplicity of the lives of 
those Christians was no greater than the simplicity 



THE AUTHOR 115 

of their church government, . . . whatever pleased 
the whole multitude was the action of the church. 
When modern Christianity shall be pruned of the 
worldly, when simplicity shall prevail, when love 
shall be the ruling element, when men that seize 
authority and become division makers shall be in 
disgrace, when purity shall be more admired than 
orthodoxy of doctrine as defined by officials, and 
knowledge of heaven more desired than knowledge 
of earth, and when Christ shall be the only leader, — 
"The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the 
Lord, as the waters cover the sea." 

These things he regarded as far more 
essential than creeds and councils, state- 
ments of belief, or even a Declaration of 
Principles. 

He was content to receive the life which 
was controlled simply by the spirit of Chris- 
tianity. Lives consecrated to purity, truth, 
kindly service, and love for God and man 
would be bound together in a lasting fellow- 
ship as one family, with the bonds of unfail- 
ing brotherhood. 

This broad, unsectarian fellowship was 
the true platform upon which he stood. His 
fraternal sympathies were broad enough to 
include those of differing faiths. 

He could meet with and take part in great 
conventions in which learned men, editors, 
authors, college presidents, theologians of 
various schools, and cultivated laymen were 



116 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

gathered, and speak before such assemblies 
with credit to himself, and the people whom 
he represented religiously. 

While he was not an eloquent speaker, in 
the sense usually applied to that term, yet 
there was a power, an originality, a penetra- 
tion, and a warmth of feeling in his words 
which impressed others and made them feel 
that a man of no ordinary ability was in 
their midst. 

His attendance at The Congress of Religious 
Liberals at Berlin, in 1910, was illustrative of 
what we have here written; and when he 
stood in the presence of men of various coun- 
tries and faiths, learned Hungarian Unita- 
rians, and others of distinguished ability, 
setting forth the beautiful and simple teach- 
ings of the matchless Nazarene Teacher with 
singular pathos and power, they listened 
with intense interest. 

He was not a Trinitarian, neither was he 
Unitarian, but held to the unity of the 
Father, and the divine fulness of the Son, 
with the Spirit as the divine afflatus and 
radiance proceeding from both Father and 
Son. This belief in Father, Son, and Spirit 
was no complex system of theology with 
him, obscure and difficult to comprehend, but 



THE AUTHOR 117 

from his view-point it was clear, simple, and 
in harmony with gospel truth. 

We quote again from his book, "Six Cen- 
turies \" 

There was a general disappearance of real 
spirituality, of simple doctrines, of apostolic manners, 
of Christian love, of pure morality, of freedom of 
worship, of liberty of conscience. (Sixth Century.) 
The original and pure spirituality of Christians had 
made of the Cross a mere symbolic banner of 
glorious victory; and the momentum of that spirit- 
uality had continued for five centuries. But in the 
sixth century the crucifix was introduced, picturing 
a dying Deity, and in the year 586 appeared a 
painting of the crucifixion. Materialism steadily 
crowded back spirituality. Believers in the genuine 
unity of God, and the real sonship of Jesus Christ 
were exterminated, or compelled to fly to the 
temporary protection of heretics in the forests of 
the barbarians. 

This period he reckons as "one of the sad- 
dest, yet the most important dates in Chris- 
tian history." The gloom of the Dark Ages 
which followed, after the lapse of years, 
spread its pall of death over the earth and 
Christians suffered martyrdom and all the 
horrible forms of suffering to which tVtey 
were cruelly subjected. 

"But at the beginning of the nineteenth 
century/' says he, "the whole condition 
changed, especially in the New World, the 
restoration of visible Christianity to its 



118 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

original way of simplicity of statement, and 
freedom of interpretation has been evident 
more and more in all denominations. These 
have been accompanied with their natural 
effect, the increase of affectionate brother- 
hood among Christians, so that the followers 
of Jesus of various sects, in loving agreement 
are more and more uniting in systematic 
forms of activity for doing good: — Such as 
Young Men's Christian Associations, foreign 
missions, the Woman's Christian Temper- 
ance Union, Young People's Society of Chris- 
tian Endeavor, and many other organiza- 
tions." 

Dr. Summerbell had a style which was all 
his own. He was no mere copyist, no pla- 
giarist, no imitator ; but simple, clear, direct, 
epigrammatic at times, condensing much 
thought in a few words. In spirit he was 
courageous, fearless, somewhat controver- 
sial, but straight out from the shoulder, not 
dodging behind the bush, firm in his convic- 
tions of truth, keen in his criticism, yet kind 
and true-hearted, sometimes misunderstood, 
but honest, faithful, and conscientious. 

From an artistic point of view we would 
say his book, ''Mountains of the Bible," 
is his masterpiece. Its subjects pleased him, 



THE AUTHOR 119 

and its descriptive passages gave him 
delight. It abounds in descriptions of sacred 
scenes, mountains, and characters, and con- 
tains many gems of biblical truths and 
figures. 

Yet he never wrote or preached for artistic 
effect alone. Not embellishment, but clear- 
ness and simplicity, were the pearls which he 
sought, and the gems for which he searched. 

This is illustrated in the following letter, 
which we here quote in full, as it was one of 
the last letters he ever wrote, being written 
only eight days before his sudden call to the 
Home Beyond: 

Dayton, Ohio, Feb. 20, 1913. 
215 Fourth Ave. 
Rev, B. F. Vaughan, 

Sec'y Miami Conference. 
Dear Brother: — Yours of Feb. 15th, offering me 
the honor of speaking at the coming Mid-Year 
Meeting, Apr. 15th, on the subject, "The Art of 
Preaching," is received, and I accept the appoint- 
ment. However, your remark that your committee 
"felt that I could treat this subject better than any 
one else among us," made me think of a principle 
that we have often observed; that a critic, or man 
able to discourse effectively on any art, is not him- 
self the artist. And in that connection, I humbly 
confess that I would far rather be able to preach 
well than be able to tell how to preach well. I 
would rather be the artist than a man learned in 
the art. 



120 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

However, again, the art of preaching is one given 
largely by God, which it is man's duty to cultivate 
and develop; although the man who is called to 
preach can certainly preach, even though he may 
know nothing about the art of it. 
Eespectfully, 

J. J. SUMMERBELL. 

He devoted much of his time to literary 
and religious work, serving as editor of The 
Herald of Gospel Liberty for a period of 
twelve years, and issued a number of books 
and pamphlets. In all his work his great 
ambition was to exalt truth as he understood 
it. He was no mere time-server, but an 
industrious, devoted servant of the people 
amongst whom he spent his life in hard 
work. 

As editor of The Herald he was faithful to 
the principles for which that paper has long 
been an advocate. His editorials were char- 
acterized by clearness, gracefulness, and ver- 
satility, covering a wide range of subjects. 
He hated shams, detested all that smacked 
of priestly rule, ecclesiastical authority, or 
denominational management through per- 
sonal ambition. 

Perhaps the largest literary work of his 
life, in the time spent and money expended, 
was the preparation and publication of the 



I 



THE AUTHOR 121 

Life and Writings of his father, issued in 
1900, and entitled, — ''Some Notes of the Life 
and Some of the Writings of Nicholas Sum- 
merhell." This book was dedicated to his 
mother, Mrs. E. J. Summerbell, and to 
''Many Other Christian Friends." 

In this large 8vo. volume of 670 pages 
we have the life story of one of the most 
gifted and many-sided men known among 
the "Christians.'' Well born, of Christian 
parentage, he grew up to be a quick, bright, 
sensitive young man. His life was so varied, 
so full of activity, so distinguished in useful 
and talented service, so marked in mental 
strength and purity, that to read the story of 
such a life is to be inspired, uplifted, and 
filled with a new ambition. 

Preacher, debater, orator, army-chaplain, 
poet, author, satirist, editor, college presi- 
dent, historian, theologian, and leader among 
the people with whom he spent his life in 
noble service. 

His keen mental grasp, his quick wit, his 
power of repartee, his eminent ability as a 
debater, his wide information, his wonderful 
memory, his eloquence, his power as a 
logician ; together with his genial disposition, 
his readiness and charm as a conversational- 



122 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

ist, all gave him celebrity, and marked him 
as a man of rich endowment and unusual 
ability. 

This book ought to be read by young min- 
isters. It will inspire to nobler effort, and 
furnish an interesting example of what min- 
isters had to meet and endure a generation 
ago. 

Among his other writings are "Scripture 
Doctrine," issued in 1904, a book very popu- 
lar in the denomination, and his last book, 
"Campbellism Is Rebellion," the manuscript 
of which he had just finished before his 
death, and which was published soon after 
his departure. He also wrote numerous 
pamphlets ; among these v/ere ''Christians or 
Disciples," "Denominational Faithfulness," 
"Destructive Criticism Suicidal." 

His father and he, as v/ell, lived in a period 
when issues as to matters of belief and 
denominational tenets were debated and 
stoutly defended, but which are no longer 
emphasized in a way to arouse theological 
differences, or denominational hostilities. A 
better day has dawned in religious history, 
and the things which once excited such differ- 
ences of opinion, and earnest opposition in 
matters of church polity and theological 



THE AUTHOR 123 

questions have become modified, or passed 
entirely away ; followed, we trust, by greater 
peace and renewed activity in harmonious 
effort. 

May the day soon come when the teachings 
of the humble but courageous Nazarene 
Teacher, whose sayings our beloved brother 
loved so much and interpreted so well, shall 
become the law of life, and make brothers 
of individuals, churches, nations, and peoples 
of the world. 



THE CHURCH OFFICIAL 



THE CHURCH OFFICIAL 

BY REV. J. F. BURNETT, D. D. 

EVEN the office of door-keeper in the 
House of the Lord is important, but 
more important than any office, is the 
man who fills it. 

He who rises to office does well, but he who 
rises in office does better. The man who held 
office in the Christian Church for nearly a 
half century, whose efficiency, faithfulness, 
loyalty, devotion, example, and sacrifice are 
a rich inheritance for his successors; whose 
name is inseparably associated with the 
entire life of the Christians, not only rose to 
office, but rose in office, and the ending of his 
official career was more worthy than the 
beginning. 

The weakness and inefficiency of the 
church organization during the early years of 
his official service threw upon him heavy 
burdens and weighty responsibilities and 
demanded of him heroic effort, intelligent 
planning, and economic management. There 
was never a time in the life of the Chris- 



128 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

tians since James O'Kelly denounced the 
episcopacy in which so much careful judg- 
ment, wise planning, prudent execution, and 
loving appeal were needed as during the first 
years of Doctor SummerbelFs service as 
secretary of The American Christian Con- 
vention. 

Up to this time the Church had not only 
not been organized for service, but many of 
her stanch members were openly and 
strongly opposed to such organization. The 
Church for all its years had worshiped, but 
had not served, and the introduction of 
methods of service was slow and difficult 
at the first. There was chaos and confusion, 
indifference and opposition, and the cry of 
ecclesiasticism and episcopacy, and a call 
for the recognition of the independency of 
the local church, rose up throughout the 
brotherhood which threatened to devour and 
destroy any effort in the direction of cen- 
tralized method, and which rendered his 
efforts ineffective compared with what they 
would have been had the ministry and the 
Church fully co-operated with him to organ- 
ize the Church for service as it had been 
organized for worship. It was in the midst of 
these unfavorable conditions — clamoring 



THE CHURCH OFFICIAL 129 

tongues ; questions and debates as to the pro- 
priety of organized effort, that Rev. James 
Joseph Summerbell took the office of secre- 
tary of The American Christian Convention, 
and soon afterward began the work of organ- 
ization. 

It was a new epoch in the life of the 
Church, and notwithstanding the many dif- 
ficulties his success was phenomenal. 

As the path of duty opened before him he 
bravely stepped into it and courageously 
went forward. His reputation as a man of 
courage and an officer of real merit and abil- 
ity was not only established by his service, 
but has been tested by time, and proven as 
enduring as the everlasting hills. Tis true 
that, like Moses, he had been trained for this 
leadership, for from his youth he had been 
familiar with the duties of the secretary. 
His father. Rev. Nicholas Summerbell, was 
secretary of The American Christian Con- 
vention from 1858 to 1862 and from 1866 to 
1870, and Joseph was his assistant, and was 
taught the art of recording minutes and pre- 
paring them for inspection and publication. 
The American Christian Convention met at 
Oshawa, Canada, in October, 1870, at which 
time and place the Rev. J. J. Summerbell sue- 



130 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

ceeded his illustrious father to the office, 
which he held with entire satisfaction of the 
Convention until April, 1893, when he 
resigned contrary to the wish of the whole 
brotherhood. During his terms of service 
the Convention met at the following-named 
places : Oshawa, Canada, 1870 ; Stanfordville, 
N. Y., 1874; Franklin, Ohio, 1878; Albany, 
N. Y., 1882; New Bedford, Mass., 1886; 
Marion, Indiana, 1890. He served under the 
following-named presidents: Rev. I. H. Coe, 
1870-1878; Rev. A. W. Coan, 1878-1882; 
Rev. J. W. Osborne, 1882-1886; Rev. 
Daniel Albright Long, 1886-1893. Some 
of the above-named sessions stand out like 
m.ountains — tall, towering, massive, impres- 
sive; calling as deep calleth to deep for the 
mightiest to come forth to conflict. In these 
sessions intellectual combats Vv^ere neither 
sought nor avoided. Questions of Zion-wide 
importance were to be answered; problems 
involving the courage, the faith, and 
the character of the whole body were to 
be solved; plans that at least promised to 
be acceptable and easily worked were to be 
indorsed and installed; movements that 
would appeal to the whole Church were to be 
wrought out and launched; crooked places 



THE CHURCH OFFICIAL 131 

were to be made straight and rough places 
made smooth; prejudice and suspicion v/ere 
to be allayed, and provision made for greater 
achievements than the Church had ever be- 
fore attained, and none, no not one of all the 
great hosts needed a more watchful eye, a 
keener intellect, a warmer heart, a sm.oother 
tongue, a more unwavering faith, a steadier 
hand, and a readier pen than he who kept the 
records, and the results justify the statement 
that none, no not one of them all possessed 
them more than he. 

The problem of the Biblical School v/as the 
one supreme problem of the Convention at 
Oshawa in 1870, and next to that in impor- 
tance was the location of a ''Centralized Pub- 
lishing House." The one great event of 1874 
was the dedication of the School Buildings at 
Stanfordville, N. Y. 

In 1878 appeared the first printed program 
of the Convention and the famous conversa- 
tion between the Hon. David Clark, of Hart- 
ford, Connecticut, and Rev. Austin Craig, 
D. D., of New York. Both these m.en pos- 
sessed marked ability but widely different in 
character of thought and method of expres- 
sion. Mr. Clark was a business man of rare 
attainm^ents and success, and Doctor Craig 



132 P\/BLIC ACTIVITIES 

possessed to an eminent degree the talents 
for teaching, and yet these two men so widely 
different in manner and method completely 
harmonized in this great public conversation. 
The session of 1882 was fraught with high 
interest in Franklinton Christian College and 
plans for Church Extension. In 1886 the 
Convention reached high tide in planning for 
active foreign mission work and the organi- 
zation of the Woman's Board for Foreign 
Missions. It was J. J. Summerbell, the sec- 
retary, vfho moved that the Convention begin 
active mission work in a foreign field. The 
session of 1890, the last one which he served 
as secretary, was of intense and vital inter- 
est in that the Church north and the Church 
south were reunited, and the delegates from 
the Southern Christian Convention welcomed 
and seated with full rights and privileges of 
membership, the organizing of the Woman's 
Board for Home Missions, and the discussing 
and endorsement of plans with reference to 
the work in Norfolk, Virginia. These cita- 
tions, meagre as they are, suffice to show the 
greatness of the sessions and the necessity 
for a competent executive officer which quali- 
fication was found in the man whose name 



THE CHURCH OFFICIAL 133 

we honor, and whose ability we admire, and 
in whose memory these words are written. 

The official duties of Secretary Summer- 
bell, were by no means confined to the cler- 
ical duties of the office. He conceived, 
planned, and published "The American 
Christian," which served a field all its own 
for the years it lived. He edited and pub- 
lished the Quadrennial Book for 1886 and 
1890. These publications contain the full 
records of the two greatest sessions of the 
Convention which met during his terms of 
office. In addition to his clerical work, his 
editorial and his publishing obligations, he 
visited and addressed conferences, local 
churches, institutions of learning, and other 
organizations, strengthening and directing 
the cause wherever he went. Doctor Sum- 
merbell was a scholar, an orator, a preacher, 
a writer, a student, and an intellectual artist, 
with tastes for each and all definitely and 
particularly developed, and yet as an officer 
of The American Christian Convention he 
did a work the mere drudgery of which seems 
appalling, and especially so in the light of 
the present office equipment, none of which 
he had during any part of his official service. 
He did his writing with a pen and kept copies 



134 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

of all his letters by means of the old-fash- 
ioned press process. He counted up the long 
columns of figures with his mental calculator, 
for adding machines v/ere then unknown. He 
made out his reports for The Herald of Gos- 
pel Liberty with the care of an editor, and 
the accuracy of an accountant. His corre- 
spondence was heavy for the reason that 
plans had to be developed, explained, com- 
municated, and enforced, which necessitated 
him to give the same information over and 
over. Misunderstandings of plans were fre- 
quent and sometimes serious, and he must 
give his careful attention to the minutest 
detail, lest the brethren become discouraged 
and return to the former habits of doing 
things independently rather than concert- 
edly, as he was seeking to have them done. 
The task of gathering and tabulating reports 
and giving even an approximately correct 
statement of our numbers, was a task that 
would have discouraged one less heroic than 
he, and yet with that devotion to duty, that 
daily doing of the task, that unconquerable 
faith which dominated the man in all he did, 
never failed him in the stupendous task of 
developing the new plans, explaining away 
the many objections and the heroic effort 



THE CHURCH OFFICIAL 135 

necessary to unify the activities of the 
Church, in her various fields of service. But 
he succeeded, and instead of indifference and 
opposition there has come a co-operation and 
a liberal giving which has most wonderfully 
vitalized each and every department of the 
Church and greatly enlarged her field of 
operation. His official courtesy, his impres- 
sive personality, his kindly spirit, his pains- 
taking way, his orderly method of procedure, 
his unwavering faith, his indomitable will, 
his daily perseverance, all combined to make 
him the officer whom the Church delighteth 
to honor. 

In October, 1894, he was made a member 
of the General Mission Board, during a ses- 
sion of The American Christian Convention 
held at Haverhill, Massachusetts, and suc- 
ceeded himself to the same membership four 
years later (1898) at Newmarket, Ontario, 
but resigned therefrom near the close of the 
first year of that quadrennium that he might 
give fuller time and greater care to his edi- 
torial duties, which were increasing in num- 
ber and demanding in character. While his 
membership on the Mission Board did not 
require of him clerical service, it did demand 
promptness, decision, and fair dealing, for 



136 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

these were years of strenuous striving and 
difficult planning, and the full measure of his 
ability and time must be devoted to this 
service. The organized effort of the Church 
to do missionary work was yet in its infancy, 
and clear vision, strong faith, intense con- 
viction, and wise management were impera- 
tive needs in directing the efforts of this 
young and growing enterprise. No whining 
voice must be lifted, no weak hand must be 
raised, no faltering step must be taken, no 
negative argument must be made, for the 
time and the task called for the strong, and 
the true, and to that call the subject of this 
brief sketch fully and heartily responded. 

In October, 1910, he was elected vice-pres- 
ident of The Christian Publishing Associa- 
tion, which office he held at the time of his 
death. Indeed, there were but few years of 
his manhood life that he did not hold office, 
for he was to the office born, as he was to the 
ministry called. Conference, Church, State 
Associations, and Boards of various char- 
acters and varying degrees of size and impor- 
tance were honored and served by his ability 
and experience. 

These services were not rendered either 
for salary or popularity. All the services 



THE CHURCH OFFICIAL 137 

rendered, all the unpleasant things endured, 
all the miles traveled, all the money spent, all 
the sacrifices made, were because of his love 
for the Church and his devotion to the prin- 
ciples of religious liberty. He believed with 
all his heart in the mission of the Christians, 
in extending his fellowship to all on earth 
whom he would meet in heaven, in excluding 
all human names and human creeds from the 
body of Christ, and in keeping the unity of 
the spirit in the bonds of peace. 



THE EDITOR 



THE EDITOR 

BY REV. HENRY CRAMPTON 

AS a thinker, scholar, and writer Rev. 
J. J. Summerbell, D. D., stood in the 
highest class; he thoroughly under- 
stood and practiced the art of writing; his 
editorials were clear and concise, and his 
readers were never in doubt about what he 
had in mind nor the position he occupied. 
As a Christian and the editor of a religious 
newspaper he firmly believed and taught 
that the great need of the world is Jesus 
Christ: that sin shortens life as well as de- 
grades ; that no new gospel can take the place 
of the old; that the gospel lived and taught 
by the lowly Nazarene and the apostles is 
indeed ''the power of God unto salvation to 
every one that belie veth." To this end he 
sends this stirring message out to the world : 

Oh, the gospel! How it changes men! God is 
ever making things; and the beginnings are ever 
multiplying themselves around us, in creation and in 
prophecy. Christ's gospel changed would not be his 
gospel. 

Reader, grasp the old gospel ; you will find it new, 
and it will make you new. Nothing is so aging to 



142 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

men and decrepit in itself as sin. Nothing is so 
young and new as righteousness in the gospel of 
Jesus Christ, illustrated in the life of a sinner 
converted, who becomes young. . . . The truth is, 
men are already lost, and have no hope of salvation, 
except by getting the new life in Christ. 

The position of editor was never used by 
Dr. Summerbell for personal gain ; I was his 
assistant for several years; the service I 
rendered was by his request, and the salary 
I received v^^as furnished by him. He never 
used the passes except when on business for 
the paper, and the space, advertising his 
books for sale, in the paper which he edited, 
was paid for by him at the regular rates. He 
desired that the people he served should 
know his position as editor clearly, hence he 
wrote : 

The editor of The Herald of Gospel Liberty is 
probably situated as favorably for unbiased and 
unprejudiced opinion as any active minister in the 
body. He holds no Church office, no State Associa- 
tion office, and no Convention office. He is not com- 
pelled to defend a polity, by way of defending him- 
self. It is reasonable that his interests are those 
of the body. This is an advantage for the paper. 
We are not involved in the entanglements of connec- 
tion with those who wish to carry measures. We 
are neither called on to support them nor resist 
them. As a matter of fact, the editor of the repre- 
sentative paper ought to be an unbiased reporter 
of all boards, conferences, and assemblies among us; 
he ought to feel free at every one to give such news 
to the brotherhood as would promote the general 



k 



THE EDITOR 143 

interests, unless deterred by formal request of the 
assembly. But representative bodies among us 
should do very little business that they would with- 
hold from the public. . . . There are some who 
would turn The Herald of Gospel Liberty into a mere 
family newspaper, to afford harmless entertainment 
to the children of the household; making it entirely 
alien from the purposes of its founders, and mostly 
useless to the interests of its owners. We have no 
ambition along that line. 

His vision was world-v/ide ; to him the 
''field" was "the world ;" he felt that he was a 
''debtor" to every person who had not heard 
of the plan of salvation, and that the work 
of the Church would not be accomplished 
until all the tribes and nations had been 
invited to share its blessings and responsibil- 
ities. On Foreign Missions he says: 

The work of foreign missions is so great that it 
ought to stimulate the ambitions of the most enter- 
prising. It is no insignificant or contemptible under- 
taking to which we are invited. There is no question 
of the superiority of the Christian religion to any 
other. All benefits, or any benefits, to be credited 
to any other religion, may be found in Christianity. 
There is no teacher equal to Jesus; there is no law 
for society equal to the Bible; there is no moral 
development equal to the results of the new birth; 
there is no joy equal to the happiness of salvation 
brought by the gospel of Christ. 

His editorials teem with Bible thoughts 
and life; he wrote as one who must give an 
account; and it was sometimes painful to 
hear him speak about writing upon certain 



144 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

themes, and to see the expression of his face, 
so great was the anxiety and desire he had 
to write only as God would have him. He 
felt he was God's servant first, and the people 
for whom he wrote must take second place. 
It was God's message he was to publish, but 
his heart was burdened with anxious thought 
for that message to do its appointed work. 
He was particularly solicitous about the 
character and standing of his ministerial 
brethren. He believed that God calls men to 
the ministry, and he had no room for the 
"hireling," as the following reveals: 

The minister that puts himself into the market, 
must expect to accommodate his pulpit teachings to 
the prejudices of his purchasers; he sells not his 
body, not his hours of labor, not his ordinary service, 
but his very life blood spiritually. He sells his 
finer instincts. He sells the childlike simplicity of 
his nature. More and more in life his struggle 
centers on sustaining himself. It is better to be 
God's servant than the servant of human purchasers. 
. . . The Christian minister is not a priest to slay 
beasts and offer bloody sacrifices, but a minister of 
the sanctuary. And his office more nearly resembles 
the prophet of olden time than the priest. Our 
Savior never intended that the Christian minister 
should be a tempora,! prince, master, ruler, governor. 
Ministers are called angels (Rev. 3:1), apostles 
(men sent, or missionaries), prophets, pastors, 
evangelists, teachers, exhorters. These titles do not 
suggest domination. The minister should be called 
of God. This call will not be given except with the 
gift. 



THE EDITOR 145 

On another occasion, desiring to be helpful 

to his brother ministers, he wrote : 

Brother preacher, remember the great aim of the 
minister of the gospel: it is to save men from sin. 
Go after them. Canvass your parish. Who lives 
here, there, what he does, is he a follower of Jesus? 
See that those associated with the attendants at your 
church are converted. Speak to them on religion. 
You need not annoy them; but you should win them 
to the Savior who has died for you. It is not enough 
merely to oif er the good things to them by the public 
sermon. 

As editor he emphasized the need and 
importance of the Church; the mere forms 
and ceremonies he cared but little for; the 
church meant more than a "meeting-house ;" 
to him it was God's appointed place of wor- 
ship, a place v/here heaven and earth met; 
where the discouraged could find help, and 
the repentant sinner forgiveness. Read after 
him: 

Year in and year out, the church is free for all, the 
rich and the poor; and it is the friend of all, the 
good and the bad. It is the teacher of all who will 
come into its school of eternal wisdom. It is "the 
pillar and the ground of truth." Here are regular 
sermons, exhortations, prayers, lectures, lessons, 
advocating all virtues; whatever is for God's glory 
and man's good. The Church is the mother of every 
institution of mercy and reform. Before Christ 
came there was no public hospital in all Greece or 
Eome. 

The Church is the saving force of the world. A 
sailor shipwrecked on an unknown coast is at peace 



146 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

of mind if he sees a church building near. He knows 
that he will be cared for tenderly, as soon as human 
beings find him. To the Church we owe our safety, 
our peace, our hope in dying. 

In 1900 years the Church has created a new 
civilization; but our civilization is only the A, B, C 
of a still better culture, when men not only profess 
religion, but live it, and all know the Lord. 

He did not feel that all the bad was outside 
the Church, or that all the good was inside. 
He recognized goodness wherever he saw it. 
Referring to science he penned this : 

It is incorrect to suppose that science and religion 
are antagonistic. True religion and true science are 
in perfect harmony. The shining lights of science 
have been reverent. Newton was a devoted Chris- 
tian. The most active man in establishing the 
Geological Society in America was a minister, 
Hitchcock. The best customers in purchasing 
scientific books are ministers. Copernicus was a 
priest. Galileo v/as a Christian. So was Kepler. 
Agassiz was devout. The father of modern chemistry 
was a Unitarian minister. But some of the scientific 
men who were not Christians have given us some 
of the most potent arguments for belief in the 
divine care. Our debt to the scientists is very great. 
Many of the comforts of our present civilization are 
due to them, to their industry, their research, their 
originality, their bravery, and their devotion to 
truth. They have risked their lives, they have ban- 
ished disease, they have successfully fought pain and 
suffering, and brought many comforts to the race. 
The genuine scientific man, in his experiment, had 
said, "Be still; I am about to ask God a question." 

The position of editor of a religious jour- 
nal is often a very trying one, especially when 



THE EDITOR 147 

the denomination owns the paper and the 
editor is elected by the people ; for the ques- 
tion of free speech arises often, and the 
editor is held accountable for publishing or 
not publishing articles. Dr. Summerbell 
believed in free speech, and only articles 
entirely alien to the cause of Jesus Christ 
were refused by him. The following reveals 
his position very clearly : 

Free Speech is necessary unto liberty, in church, 
in state, in a denomination. When this is curtailed, 
no matter what the pretext, there is danger. In 
this connection, freedom of the press and freedom 
of speech are practically one. . . . Religious people 
are as bad, and always have been, unless holding to 
the truth as it is in Jesus, as politicians, as to 
surpressing freedom of speech. 

But he refused one article, and wrote to the 

author his reason : 

No, sir; we will not publish your article, for 
Christian people, with all their faults, do nearly all 
the good work of the world. Jesus rebuked His 
followers, but He also said, "The Father himself 
loveth you, because ye have loved me." It is a 
vastly different thing to publish the loving rebukes 
of a Christian to his brethren, from publishing the 
hostile criticism of an infidel. You are in the bond 
of iniquity. Pray to be forgiven. 

The Herald of Gospel Liberty, through all 
the years of his editorship, stood firmly and 
kindly for the name and principles which are 
so precious to that branch of the Church of 



148 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

Jesus Christ, the members of which are per- 
fectly satisfied to be known as Christians. 
His writings censured the detestable and 
hypocritical, but were full of compassion and 
tenderness for all who were seeking for the 
real light and truth. His discouragements 
were many, but for the benefit of others who 
may have been discouraged he wrote : 

Try to make this the best year of your life. Do 
not be discouraged because of your past failures. 
Noiu is the time to cease to fail. Trust in Christ, 
who never fails. If your trust is perfect you will 
make this your best year, till the next one. 

He was often deeply moved by the sorrow 
of others. To a brother minister, in whose 
home he had been entertained for several 
days, and whose wife God called home a 
few days after the visit, he wrote : 

I have been silent, since I heard of your great 
loss, not because it was a small matter to me, but 
because I felt more like sitting in silence with you, 
for words are poor comfort; and I knew you had all 
the consolation that the love of God gives. When I 
saw in your home from day to day the love your 
wife manifested, in her steps, in her service, in her 
glances toward you, and witnessed her simplicity of 
character, notwithstanding her good sense and 
general capacity and adaptedness to her station in 
life, — I could not help thinking of myself as an old 
battered hulk, storm beaten and desolate ; and some- 
times wondered why God gave so many good things 
to some. In my visions of a prominent and happy, 
useful future for you, I saw no way of disaster. 



THE EDITOR 149 

But you are stricken; you have received a blow. 
May God help you. 

Kindness stirred hirn instantly, and was 

JLully appreciated. When death entered his 

home and claimed his mother, he expressed 

his feeling thus : 

To the many brethren who have sent me words of 
comfort, and whom I cannot severally ansvv^er, I vnll 
say that their words have been a source of strength 
to me; far more than I ever supposed words of 
human beings could be. For possibly I had depended 
with improper exclusiveness on the heavenly Father 
and myself. The recent helping comfort of my 
friends, however, has possibly kept me from breaking 
down in the complicated distresses; and I feel as 
though coming out of swampy paths, of tangled 
briars, under dark growths, unto higher ground, 
purer air, and clearer heavens, though the sky is not 
all bright; I am not so se^/-reliant, and feel nearer 
the children of God in weakness, and in benefits from 
them. 

While editor, as at all other times, he was 

true to his convictions ; no one can truthfully 

accuse him of turning in the least from what 

he believed to be the right. While he, at 

times, seemed stern to those who differed 

from him, yet he was kind to his enemies. 

More than one kind editorial note relative 

to some of his brethren was caused by some 

unkind letter received by him. His position, 

often, was not fully understood by friend and 

foe, but I never saw him when I felt that the 

real spirit of the Lord Jesus had left him. 



150 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

To live at a time when one is most needed ; 
to be able to perform tasks which will pro- 
duce the largest possible results ; to be ready 
with pen and tongue to publish to the world 
both sides of great and important questions ; 
to clearly see visions, which mean much to 
humanity, and be able to interpret them; to 
be willing to make tremendous sacrifices for 
the cause one believes to be right ; to be able 
to keep perfectly calm, with thoughts and 
feelings well under control, under close 
firing ; to be anxious to see the right prevail 
over the wrong, even thought it may mean 
death; to feel that one is standing almost 
alone, except as God is with him, these are 
some of the conditions which make manhood 
of the highest type. 

Under such conditions and with such feel- 
ings, Rev. J. J. Summerbell, D. D., was for 
twelve years the honored (by most of his 
brethren) editor of The Herald of Gospel 
Liberty, the oldest religious newspaper in 
the world. It was my privilege, God given, 
to climb with him the mountains of trans- 
figuration, and to descend with him to more 
than one Gethsemane, At both places, and 
between the two extremes, his was the great 
soul and mind of a noble man holding on to 
God and pleading and working for the high- 
est good of the Church and the world. 



THE COLLEGE LECTURER 



THE COLLEGE LECTURER 

BY PRES. W. A. HARPER, LITT, D. 

TO be privileged to lecture before college 
audiences is an opportunity and a 
testing for any man. The opportunity 
impresses itself so keenly upon some would- 
be reformers and self-advertisers that one of 
the holiest duties of the college executive is to 
bolt the doors against their ingress. If the 
president of a standard college in these days 
were to give access for lecturing to one-half 
those who proffer their services just for the 
joy of serving the next generation, to say 
nothing of a fifth part of those who desire 
that an offering be taken at the conclusion of 
their discourses, it is safe to say that college 
students would have no time for the ancient 
pastime of study. 

Everybody in this day is desirous of reach- 
ing and influencing the college man. He is 
recognized as the key to the future. No 
business of any kind anywhere can hope to 
progress without his approval and assist- 
ance. No reform can expect recognition 



154 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

without his championing it. Consequently 
the college is literally besieged with claim- 
ants for attention and access to the pene- 
tralia, the holy of holies, of our day — the 
college rostrum. 

The college, however, that is conscious of 
its mission and that has set its face stead- 
fastly in the direction of its achievement is 
fully aware that it cannot properly equip its 
graduates for the best service without bring- 
ing them into contact with the vital leaders 
of thought, the seers and prophets of the 
age. It has scant sympathy for the self- 
invited, obtrusive propagandist, but real 
need for the man with ideas, whether he be 
a college professor, a business man, a pro- 
fessional man, a representative of any 
department of life's activities. The college 
is ever and always on the lookout for such 
a man. In a sense therefore it is a compli- 
ment to a man to be invited to lecture before 
a college audience. Rather it is a recogni- 
tion of his achievement in his line — even of 
distinguished achievement. The college is 
looking for the best. It cannot afford to 
engage mediocrity, because that will mean 
mediocre ideals for its alumni and eventually 
bring about its own eclipse. On the other 



THE COLLEGE LECTURER 155 

hand such a man honors the college when he 
accepts its invitation to lecture. Reciprocal 
honor and co-ordinate benefit are thus beau- 
tifully blended. 

But it is difficult to get the men capable of 
addressing to their profit college audiences 
to accept such invitations when extended, 
because such men recognize the gruelling test 
involved in such situations. No audience is 
so merciless in its criticism as a college audi- 
ence. College men are shrewd to detect 
insincerity and pretense. They detest bids 
for popularity and applause. They appraise 
without reference to the personal equation 
every man who faces them. And their judg- 
ment is usually unfailing in its relentless 
accuracy. Per contra, no audience more joy- 
ously responds to truth and frankness than 
that composed of college men. They love the 
truth. Their pursuit is for the truth. Any 
man who has ideas and desires to have them 
weighed and balanced can confidently face a 
college audience and know immediately what 
weight his thoughts register in the estima- 
tion of those whose business it is to think. 

Among the most successful of such college 
lecturers was the late Rev. J. J. Summerbell, 
D. D. My estimate of him is intensely per- 



156 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

sonal in two particulars. It was my privi- 
lege to hear him v/hen an undergraduate in 
college, and so to bring to bear upon his 
utterance the college man's modus jiidicandi 
and then as college president to hear him 
again win the hearty assent and approval of 
an earnest group of college men. In both 
instances he measured up to the full require- 
ments. Few men were so happy in their 
phrases, so v/inning in their personality, so 
convincing in their arguments and elucida- 
tions, so absolutely open to conviction on any 
point, so respectful of the possibility of 
truth in the opposing view. It was these 
sterling qualities of mind and manhood that 
fitted him so pre-eminently to be a college 
lecturer. 

That he succeeded in his lectureships to 
colleges is abundantly attested, but in no way 
more surely than by the number of colleges 
to which he was invited, always invited too, 
to speak. These colleges represent practically 
every institution of his Church and to many 
of them he went on many missions, always 
with messages of uplift, of inspiration, and, 
what was dearer far to him, of truth. Palmer 
Institute-Starkey Seminary, Palmer, Kansas 
Christian, Defiance, Elon, Franklinton, Kir- 



THE COLLEGE LECTURER 157 

ton Hall (Toronto), Union Christian, Chris- 
tian Biblical Institute, and "Weaubleaii all 
heard him and heard him gladly. 

Dr. Summerbell was vitally interested in 
colleges. Being himself a college man and a 
professor of mathematics for several years, 
he readily comprehended the demands on a 
college lecturer and correctly estimated the 
opportunity he enjoys. He was ever ready 
to submit himself and his ideas to the test 
of competent judges, recognizing that he 
would find none more competent than college 
men and women. The ability which he read- 
ily developed when in college of leading his 
fellow students to think with him, he never 
lost in his ripe years of scholarship as a lec- 
turer to another generation of college stu- 
dents. His scholarship — evidenced by the 
judgment of his ovv^n college mates upon him 
as "the most brilliant * man of their 
acquaintance," his ability to think a proposi- 
tion straight through and with unfailing 
accuracy — evidenced by his becoming upon 
graduation from Union Christian College in 
1864 its professor of mathematics, and his 
amiable and loving disposition— evidenced 



* According- to Dr. Martyn Summerbell, a fellow student. 



158 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

by his marvelous capacity for friends and 
friendships, all combined to make him a 
college lecturer universally sought for and 
ever welcome at the shrines of learning, the 
forges of the great and good of a new "age 
on ages telling.'' 

But the colleges were equally interested in 
Dr. Summerbell. Not only did they seek him 
as instructor, not only did they invite him to 
preach and lecture, not only did they always 
hear him gladly whenever opportunity 
offered, but they honored him with their 
degrees. Two colleges, his Alma Mater, 
Union Christian College, and Elon, child of 
his heart's devotion, bestowed upon him the 
degree Doctor of Divinity. No man wore 
these honors more worthily, none more 
modestly, than he. His appreciation of the 
recognition they gave him — a recognition he 
sincerely refused to believe himself to be 
worthy of — was beautifully expressed in the 
terms of his will. Thus his interest in 
colleges and college students is perpetuated 
to the blessing of generations yet unborn. 

But this impressionistic sketch of Dr. 
Summerbell would not be complete, were it 
not to contain the estimates passed upon him 
by many living leading educators who knew 



THE COLLEGE LECTURER 159 

and appreciated him. It gives me great 
pleasure therefore to allow eight college pres- 
idents to relate in their own words their 
verdict on the great man vfho so many times 
gladdened their hearts and thrilled their 
spirits as he spoke in their hearing to college 
audiences and on other occasions. To each 
of these eight college presidents the follow- 
ing letter was directed : 

I am engaged in preparing a chapter in a forth- 
coming volume on the life of Dr. J. J. Summerbell, 
in which I am expected to write of him as a college 
lecturer. I will certainly appreciate it if you will 
send me at your earliest convenience your estimate 
of him from this standpoint. 

The excerpts below are gleaned from the 
ready responses received in answer. 

The first to speak is Dr. Daniel Albright 

Long, former president of Antioch College 

and also of Union Christian College, Dr. 

Summerbell's Alma Mater. He says : 

If there is anything a college student appreciates, 
it is the lecturer who knows and who can in a few 
well-chosen words explain the subject under consid- 
eration. With or without notes, Dr. Summerbell was 
always able to rivet the attention of a college audi- 
ence. A vein of lambent humor was easily discov- 
ered; yet I never heard him tell an anecdote, 
or make an illustration, that was not just to the 
point, or one that could not be told, or made, in the 
presence of the most refined lady. He was unsullied 
in dress, person, and character. He was brainy, 
cultured, and an omnivorous reader, and just as 



160 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

omnivorous in digesting and assimilating what he 
read. No wonder he could hold the college student 
spellbound. Woe be to the half-baked Sophist who 
should dare unsheath the sword of fallacious theories 
in his presence! Woe be to the swell-headed so- 
called Higher Critic who thought he had boxed the 
compass, if he fell into the hands of Dr. J. J. 
Summerbell! Never did I see a college student who 
had heard Dr. Summerbell lecture once, who did not 
desire to hear him again. 

Dr. C. B. Hershey, present president of 

Union Christian College, writes : 

Dr. Summ.erbell excelled as a college lecturer. His 
lectures were so studied and so "meaty" that they 
were most admirably adapted to appeal to an audi- 
ence of students and teachers. 

Pres. P. W. McReynolds, of Defiance Col- 
lege, says: 

It was my privilege to listen to Dr. J. J. Summer- 
bell in a number of addresses and lectures before our 
student body. He always showed thoroughness of 
preparation and a precision which characterized but 
few lecturers. Every subject was treated compre- 
hensively, yet concisely. He had a unique and 
forceful style which always made its appeal. But 
few men have appeared before our student body who 
have been more pleasing and made a more lasting 
impression. 

Dr. W. W. Staley, former president of 
Elon College, testified : 

I never heard Dr. Summerbell before a college 
audience, but I have read some of his addresses 
delivered on such occasions. From what I have read, 
I consider his lectures thought-provoking, full of 
personality, polemic in spirit, academic in subject- 



THE COLLEGE LECTURER 161 

matter, and too abstract and erudite to be of great 
value in this age ; though throughout all with a 
sincere desire to arrive at truth. His purpose 
seemed to be to lead the young into sound positions 
based on the Word of God. His loyalty to his 
religious convictions and to his Church was a 
sufficient apology for any severe criticism contained 
in his profound utterances. He would have made a 
fine French writer in the scholastic period. 

Dr. E. L. Moffitt, former president of Elon 

College, writes: 

I always regarded Dr. J. J. Summerbell as one' 
of the most logical and convincing lecturers I have 
ever heard. He was a deep scholar, and an interest- 
ing speaker, appealing particularly to college audi- 
ences and rarely successful in handling them. 

Dr. W. S. Long, founder of Elon College 
and its first president, in which work he was 
ably seconded by Dr. J. J. Summerbell, who 
came from Ohio to North Carolina to assist 
Dr. Long in persuading the Southern Chris- 
tian Convention to undertake the establish- 
ment of Elon College, writes: 

Dr. Summerbell was a most able scholar and 
preacher. He always delivered highly instructive 
and stimulating lectures. His particular strength as 
a lecturer was before audiences skilled in the 
processes of thought. 

President E. A. Watkins, of Palmer Col- 
lege, testifies : 

I formed a very favorable impression of Dr. 
Summerbell as a platform speaker. He was logical, 
forceful, extremely interesting, always speaking with 



162 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

a directness and an exactness that commanded 
attention. 

President 0. B. Whitaker, of Weaubleau 
College, former president of Kansas Chris- 
tian College and of Union Christian College, 
says: 

He was one of the most cultured, correct, courteous, 
and convincing lecturers it was ever my pleasure to 
hear before a college audience. 



THE MAN AND LEADER 



THE MAN AND LEADER 

BY PROF. J. N. DALES, M. A. 

His life was gentle, and the elements 

So moved in him, that Nature might stand up 

And say to all the world, "This was a man!" 

— Julius Caesar. 

RELIGION in our day has been sum- 
moned forth into the open. It is not 
the clerical attire but the man inside 
of it that wins and holds the respect of men. 
A minister who from the pulpit attempts to 
declare the whole counsel of God is revered 
only when he can come down among men and 
with uncovered head and bare feet convince 
the world that he can dispense with artificial 
cubits. Such men are the best "evidences" 
of Christianity. To them, life is an oppor- 
tunity for the investment of service, and they 
prove to the world that brotherhood is the 
highest Christianity. 

Dr. Summerbell was "a man in Christ." 
Like Stephen of old there had been vouch- 
safed him a vision of the Son of God whose 
words revealed the Father in all his relation- 
ships with men. He would then be called 



166 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

only by that name which is above every 
name, and his life must be patterned after 
that divine ideal. It was no wonder, then, 
that in his personal and pastoral relation- 
ships he won many friends. He was a won- 
derful host in his own home. There was 
ever a cordial welcome there for the brother 
and comrade. He was solicitous about the 
welfare of our Church everywhere. This 
attitude was also the result of pastoral 
charges east and west and his successful 
efforts as Secretary of the Convention. 

He was keenly intellectual; therefore his 
sermons, books, articles, and conversation 
were a wonderful stimulus to others. He 
ever spoke from profound conviction. In the 
autumn of 1909, at the invitation of the 
Educational Board of the Ontario Christian 
Conference, he gave several lectures to our 
students in Toronto, and our ministers 
nearly all attended. In 1912, he responded 
to a second invitation and gave the dedi- 
catory address for Kirton Hall. Also, at 
a subsequent ministerial institute he gave a 
series of addresses on Campbellism. The 
writer was surprised and delighted with his 
careful scholarship and his grasp of Bible 
problems, old as well as new. 



THE MAN AND LEADER 167 

The championing of the Christian move- 
ment was the great purpose of his life. To it 
he devoted his keen mental gifts and a loyalty 
that knew no limits. He would follow Christ 
of whom the whole family in heaven and 
earth should be named. Here was a new 
Protestantism which not only "protested" 
against creeds and ecclesiasticism, but gave 
sure footing for the pilgrim who would travel 
to heaven by the royal road under the guid- 
ance of the King's Son. Our brother never 
fled from danger or sacrifice. His convic- 
tions were too strong for that. They thrilled 
him. He must be in the forefront. How 
gladly he gave the strength of that fine 
physical life to the service of God. But his 
comrades who carried his body from the 
field knew that in safety they bore his life 
away. After all there was that about his 
personality that cannot be ticketed or 
analyzed. He was unique in his individuality, 
as well as his relations to his brethren. As 
we think of him he looms up before us as a 
towering mountain, we read his editorials, 
hear his voice, see his face, and listen to his 
pleadings as he speaks for a cause which he 
loved with all his heart. 



168 PUBLIC ACTIVITIES 

He was a born leader. The fire of con- 
quest stirred in his heart. His leadership 
was from a power within that was always 
eager to replenish the fire of truth. It was 
definite, fervent, and never compromised 
with error. Some years ago there was an 
agitation in favor of union with the Baptists. 
It was owing largely to his efforts and those 
of his sainted father that this proposal was 
not entertained. In 1897-98, there was a 
strong feeling in certain sections of our Zion 
for denominational relationship with the 
Congregationalists, but the opposition led by 
Dr. Summerbell was very pronounced and 
but little has been heard of the matter since 
that time. In fact, agitation has practically 
ceased. 

His strong individuality commended him 
to the brethren who so often elected him to 
the offices in the gift of The American Chris- 
tian Convention and The Publishing Asso- 
ciation. His scrupulous care of these trusts 
vindicated the confidence of the brethren. 
His pronounced views as to denominational 
policy sometimes cut athwart the ideas of 
others equally pronounced, but that is the 
portion of all leaders, and at the time of his 
passing none were more emphatic in their 



THE MAN AND LEADER 169 

estimate of his worth than those who so 
often felt constrained to oppose him. When- 
ever he went to our own conferences or to 
other representative gatherings of our sepa- 
rated brethren, he did us honor. He pos- 
sessed the leader's power and the prophet's 
vision and our interests were always safe in 
his hands. 



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